Hollow
by Zaerith Vrinn
Summary: Pre-movie by many years. Before she was Trinity she was Christine Edwards, and she was contacted by men who called themselves Agents asking for help tracking a terrorist but what happens when their relationship gets more personal? Smith/Trinity
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **First fic for _The Matrix_, please be nice. Takes place pre-movie by several years, and all of this is basically out of my imagination so if anything doesn't make sense, just say so and I'll do my best to fix it.

**Warning: **This predates the first film obviously, as characters are younger and thus there will be mild OOCness in the beginning, hopefully by the end they will all round out to the characters we know and love. Eventual Smith/Trinity

**Disclaimer: **I own the premise of this story and the words that are printed in it, all names that you recognize are not mine, and if you don't recognize them, they are probably filler OC characters which are mine.

Hollow

"_This is the way the world ends,_

_not with a band, but a whimper."_

_~T.S Elliot, The Hollow Men last line_

"This is the place?"

Agent Smith glanced at Brown over his sunglasses as he got out of the car. "This is the place." he confirmed nonchalantly.

The door of the Audi slammed once more as Agent Jones exited the vehicle as well. "Are you sure about this?" The Agent's voice did not ring with doubt as the question he posed would suggest, instead he seemed to be merely looking for confirmation as Brown had only moments before.

Smith replied as he had before, unemotionally, "If we are going to track down the Codename Morpheus we need someone on the inside."

"But wouldn't it be more efficient to enlist a person with more experience?" Brown asked.

Smith glanced to the building in front of them, it was a high school, "No. Someone with more experience would already have been noticed by the rebels. We need someone who has no suspicion of the Matrix." As he said this Smith's nose crinkled.

He hated the Matrix, he hated the fake world, the way it smelled, the way it imprisoned him. He once expressed his feelings to the other two agents, they had discussed it, but Smith didn't think they really understood how much he wanted to be out of this place. They needed to destroy Zion, and the sooner they did that, the sooner Smith would be away from this place.

Or so he hoped at least.

"Let's go."

–

Christine Edwards was alone in the computer lab. She was a plain looking girl, wearing mostly black, and gray, her hair was shoulder length, but no one could tell that because it was always stuck back in a ponytai. Christine came in so often that the lab assistants could trust her to be left alone for short periods of time. And in those short periods of time other student could come in, and for a certain price she would hack the the school's computers and change grades, or erase bad marks on permanent records. That was the limit of her skills. She wasn't a hacker.

She wasn't "Trinity" yet.

Which was why the Agency had chosen her from a list of candidates for the proposed plan. When Christine heard the door to the lab open and several sets of unfamiliar footsteps she assumed they belonged to new 'costumers'. Well, too bad, the lab assistants would be back soon, they'd have to try again tomorrow.

"Miss Edwards?"

That voice did not belong to a high schooler, or any of the school faculty she was familiar with. She turned around and was surprised to see three men, all in identical suits and sunglasses, they looked like government. What the Hell? She couldn't possibly be in this kind of trouble for changing grades, could she.

"Are you Miss Christine Edwards?" The man in the center asked.

She could have lied, she could have given a false name and said Christine wasn't in school today, but instead she nodded, figuring that if she wasn't in trouble for her computer shenanigans, then she would definitely be in trouble for lying to the FBI or whoever these guys were.

"May we speak with you Miss Edwards?"

Again she simply nodded, though her eyes drifted to the door, wondering what chance she had at making a break for it if things got nasty. These guy were probably trained for fist fights, but she was sure even they wouldn't be able to handle a good kick to the nuts.

The man in the center sat down, even sitting he was still taller than her, the glasses obscured his eyes, making him impossible to read. "Miss Edwards may I introduce myself. I am Agent Smith, this is Agent Jones and Agent Brown." The two others nodded at her as their names were mentioned, but they said nothing.

Christine rolled her eyes, already tired of the cop games, "What do you want? I didn't do anything."

Smith's lips twitched, "As a matter of fact, Miss Edwards, you have done plenty." he pointed to the computer, "We already know that you have been using your skills with computers to modify school records.

"You can't arrest me for that." She said, "In fact you shouldn't even have been bothered with it. That's the school's business."

"That is true Miss Edwards. That is true. However we are not here on school business." He reach up and removed his sunglasses, even with them off his eyes were cold and stoic, as impossible to read as when he had them on. "We are here to offer you...A job of sorts."

"What?"

Smith folded his hands in his lap, "We are tracking a net terrorist organization, and we need someone on the inside, someone who can gain the trust of the lead terrorist and help us bring him to justice. Your hacking may be juvenile at best, but that is exactly why we need you."

"Not someone with more experience?" She asked.

"Someone with more experience would already be aware of the terrorist and be well on the way of becoming part of the organization." he explained.

"They'd become terrorists?" She almost burst out laughing at the absurdity of the idea.

"Their leader is quite...Charismatic." Agent Smith told her, "We need someone who isn't already under their radar, someone they won't suspect is undercover."

"Do my Foster Parents know about this?" She asked suspiciously. "I'm only sixteen, don't you need their permission of something?"

"Do you want us to get their permission?" Smith replied. "We can give them a call if you'd like."

"No!" Christine answered, "No. The last thing I need is for the old man to know I don't really have an A in Math."

"Then will you help us?"

What will happen if I don't?" She asked.

Smith gave a half shrug, "We'll find someone else. You'll continue with your computer scams until you graduate, get a job somewhere, possibly hone your hacking skills until the terrorist we have warned you about contacts you, and you will end up on the opposite side of this little war."

Christine stared at him.

"We'd prefer it if you would be on our side Miss Edwards."

Christine paused to consider it. The agents must have asked the lab assistants for a few minutes of privacy, Steven and Debbie should have been back by now. "I guess..." She said.

"Very good Miss Edwards. We will contact you again shortly to discuss what you will be doing for us..." Smith stood up, Jones and Brown turned with him leaving without a word, but nods of acknowledgment.

Christine stared after them a moment, unsure if what has just happened had really happened. The lab assistants returned after a while, and Christine turned back to the computer decide it didn't matter.

–

Outside, Smith got back into the diver's seat of the Audi. "That went better than expected." Jones said.

"Indeed." Brown agree.

Smith made no comment. He celebrated in silence. If only the rest of this plan would go so smoothly. He would finally be out the the Matrix, maybe sooner than he thought.

**Author's end note: ** The other chapters will probably be longer.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: **I don't typically update something twice in the same week, but I felt really inspired after seeing the magnificent work of **Agentsmithtrollplz **on DeviantArt which was done for my story, check in out, the link is in my profile!

**Warning: **…Language IDK I'm literally making this up as I go.

**Disclaimer: **Clearly I don't own the Matrix

Hollow

Agent Smith sat in his car on the side of the road. Only the sound of classical music kept the silence from being complete. He was waiting. It had been about two months since he and his colleagues had approached Christine Edwards with their proposal, and even though the young woman had accepted the offer, she still needed to be monitored. The Agency needed to know if she could be trusted before any further communication was made, and so for obvious reasons Christine had an Agent or two watching her at almost all times.

For less obvious reasons this responsibility had landed solely on Smith's shoulders.

Smith had spent the last several weeks carefully keeping her under surveillance. He didn't know when the job became 'his', but he didn't complain, not that Agents ever complained, but at least this surveillance job kept him from having to spend too much time amongst crowds of humans and their stink. Subconsciously he wrinkled his nose.

He really hated the smell.

Movement caught his eye. Christine was walking up the path from the school to the nearby neighborhood up the hill. Students usually used this path in noisy groups when school was out, Christine did not. She was a solitary girl, and Smith's observations and revealed her to have very few social interactions with people human's called 'friends'. Christine liked to stay after class (usually in the computer lab), choosing to walk home by herself. Only six times in the past two months had Smith seen her walk home with friends.

Briefly Smith wondered if Christine hated how humans smelled too.

It was a ridiculous thought, he pushed it away.

He had a job to do.

He shifted the gear and pulled his car onto the road, coming up behind the girl as she walked oblivious to his presence. As he got close Smith rolled down his window. Christine had headphones on, playing music on what humans called a 'walkman', no wonder she couldn't hear him pulling up beside her. Smith could almost reach out and touch her when Christine finally noticed him coming closer.

She just about jumped out of her skin, Smith had not understood that expression previously, but Christine's surprise at seeing him clarified the figurative term. "Jesus fucking Christ!" She gasped as she pulled her headphones away from her ears and hung them from her neck. "I thought I imagined you guys!"

"Apologies Miss Edwards I did not mean to startle you." Smith didn't smile as he said this, he remained stone faced, emotionless, this was his job. "I'm here on behalf of the Agency, the time has come to begin training you for your part in the operation to capture the terrorist Morpheus." He unlocked his car door and waited for Christine to get in.

She stood where she was a moment longer "Right now?" she asked.

Smith nodded slowly, "Unless you have other activities which would otherwise occupy your time with us."

Christine took another moment to figure out what he said before she opened the door to the seat behind Smith. "Sure I have nothing else to do today, no homework, my friends can't hang out, I'm in no hurry to go…" She trailed off; most likely hesitant to call the place she was living 'home'.

Before Smith pulled back into the road, he reached behind him and handed Christine a blindfold which he explained was necessary until further notice. He glanced at Christine through the mirror making sure the blindfold was put on securely.

The young woman was in foster-care, after her father had died Christine's mother couldn't afford to keep her daughter and was forced to give her up. Since then Christine had been moved to various families across the city, going to different schools and living in different houses. The Agent theorized that lack of consistency in her life was probably the reason for her social awkwardness, she was afraid to make friends because she knew she could loose them again sooner than she could prepare herself for the separation.

As for the foster home itself, Smith had been witness to several occasions of Christine leaving the house in tears, screaming behind her back at her foster father, who would stand at the doorway with a red face and yell back. Smith had no reason to suspect any physical abuse, and as far as he could tell this sort of relationship was common among adolescents with the paternal figures in their lives. Humans all seemed the same to him.

"So what exactly is it that I will be doing for you guys?" Christine asked after several minutes of silence.

Smith's eyes were back on the road by that time, merging in with traffic as he turned onto a more commonly used road leading back to the heart of the city, and the government building he and the other Agents occupied, posing as figures from top levels of the human government. "We will be testing your hacking capabilities, and teaching you further techniques. At first we will assign you targets, but eventually you will continue on your own, the hope is that you will draw the terrorist's attention and be asked to join him."

"And at that point you go in and nab him, right?" Christine added.

Under his sunglasses Smith glanced at her in the mirror again. "Something like that, yes." He replied.

Christine went quite again, they were almost at the building before she spoke up, "Are we there yet? This blindfold is itchy."

"A few more minutes Miss Edwards." There was a parking garage where he had a reserved spot just below the building, and inside that parking lot was an elevator that would lead to the secret level which their operation would continue. Once he was parked Smith opened his door, Christine was doing the same, also trying to remove her blindfold. He grabbed her hand gently and pulled it away, "No, not yet."

"But how can I see where we're going?" She asked.

Without saying a word, Smith put a guiding hand on her shoulder and led her toward the elevator. "Watch out, there's a bump." He warned, making sure that she didn't trip over it.

In the elevator he left her side briefly to enter a code into the computer to take them to the hidden level. He was slightly surprised to feel Christine reach and grope the air, searching for him and finally catch hold of his arm. She held on to him as the elevator rose.

At last there was a ding and he led her out, once again her hands raised to the blindfold hoping to take it off, but again, Smith stopped her, "Soon." He promised. There was a maze of cubicles on this level he had to navigate her through, to get to a door that lead to the hall, the third door on the right side of the hall was where he was leading her.

Before he reached the hall however they were delayed when someone called his name. "Agent Smith!"

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes the way humans did when they were annoyed, with Christine still holding his arm he turned to face the approaching man. There were no humans on this level, but not everyone here was an Agent, this man was a program created to help run the traffic signals and he, much like the lights, was typically an inconvenience.

"Dr. Long, it is a pleasure." The Agent's usual odd cadence always made it hard to tell when he was being sincere or when he was emulating sarcasm. In this case Smith was smiling through his teeth at the program and secretly wanting to punch him through a wall.

"Agent Smith, you need to have clearance to bring guests to this station." The man said, he was designed to look like a racial mix of Chinese and Caucasian, hence his name Dr. Henry Long. Outside this building he was a Professor at a local college with a Doctorate Degree and well known as a philosopher. Inside this building he was known as a nuisance. "And who is your little friend, kinda cute, isn't she?" A few programs in cubicles started to chuckle. Most did not have the courage to tease Agents, but when someone did it was a spectator event that could rival the Olympics, it seemed a common goal of the programs on this level to make an Agent loose his cool

"Christine Edwards is not my guest, she is here on top secret assignment and had you checked your mail anytime in the last few months you would know about it." Smith replied, once again the rhythm of the Agent's voice hid the venom in his words.

"Aw, so no underage fling?" The doctor had no unusual pace while he spoke, so his teasing was evident, "So what's with the blind fold if it's not for kinky sex?"

Christine gripped Smith's arm uncomfortably, "Top secret assignment." Smith told him, "And I suggest that you leave us to it, otherwise you may find yourself without a job here Dr. Long."

"You don't have the authority to fire me." Long argued.

Smith reached a hand to his earpiece signaling his connection to The Source, "True that I don't Doctor, but such unprofessional behavior is undesired by authorities I have greater relations to. Get back to your station."

While a human might have continued to tease and harass him about 'tattling', Dr. Long knew the joke was over once The Source was involved. If Smith brought a good enough case forward, Long could face deletion, or exile. There were a few "Ooooh"s whispered among the cubicles as Long rushed back to his station, and Smith heard one say, "Maybe next time."

Without further delay Smith began again toward the hall, Christine's grip on him had yet to loosen by the time he opened the third door on the right. "You can take off the blindfold now." He instructed pulling her off his arm. "Take your seat." The room was empty but for a computer, and a camera to monitor Christine's activity.

He left the room, moving to the one across the hall. In this room Jones and Brown were waiting with a fourth Agent. Smith took a seat at the computer; a screen played back the images from Christine's room. She seemed unnerved by his disappearance, but sitting at the computer calmed her. Computers, it appeared, were her only true friends.

Agent Brown touched his shoulder and passed him a pile of papers, Smith glanced through them: procedure, legal obligations, blah, blah, sign here, Smith pulled a pen out of his pocket. He had no first name, or last name depending on whether you wanted to say Smith was one or the other. He signed the paper as A. Smith, preferring that 'Smith' be his last name, and "A" to stand for any number of names that began with that letter, when in reality it simply stood for Agent.

He handed the papers back to Brown, only to be passed another pile by Jones, this one wasn't for him to sign though, he was to read off these instructions for Christine, though she had already completed step one: Turn on the computer. Had he been human he would have sighed from boredom, but instead he remained still and robot-like. Smith pushed a button, a speaker, and his voice carried through the line into the room where the young woman was stumped about the computer which was asking for a username and password.

"Miss Edwards." He called.

She jumped, "Smith? Hey, Smith where'd you go?" She asked looking around and finally seeing the camera.

"I am merely in another room, no need to worry." He assured her, Jones and Brown stood silently behind him, observing his interaction with the young woman, the fourth Agent, Johnson, if he recalled the other man's name, was writing down the progress of the project. "I see you have already begun the initial testing. What seems to be the problem?"

Christine looked away from the camera back to the computer. "I can hack into this pretty easily," she said, "But I don't know if you want me to hack it, or if I have some sort of access codes I'm supposed to memorize to get in."

Johnson wrote that down; she was concerned about clearance, but capable of getting in.

"Hmm perhaps one day we can get you a full time job here and you can have a legal way of entering this network…" Smith mused aloud, "But for today, we merely want you to hack your way in to various secure files, nothing important, mind you, just stuff we designed for this test. Now get onto the computer."

"Alright." Christine sighed facing her screen. She studied it a moment, but as she said, she was able to bypass the screen asking for her password. This feat would have been impressive for her high school class mates, but to the Agents it was merely child's play.

"Good." Smith glanced down at his papers again, "Next, you are on the desktop, look for a file entitled Enterprise001. It is a simple program that will allow you to continue to the next step, but before you can do so, this file is encrypted, you will have to hack it."

"Do you _need_ to talk to me like I'm five, or is that just something you _want_ to do?" Christine double clicked an icon on the desktop. This was an old computer, not nearly as fast as the models that were invented in the decades of the 2000s, Smith's lips twitched, wishing that his plea to rewrite the Matrix into a later period of humanity had been taken into more consideration. Minutes ticked by before the file was finally open.

Christine cocked her head, studying the encrypted message blocking her from accessing this file, and determining- she started typing before Johnson could finish writing down his observation, a red signal when up on the computer, warning her that access was denied. She kept typing; the sign flashed red a few times, but then turned green, granting her access.

"How was that?" Christine asked.

Smith glanced at Jones and Brown, who nodded, "The best time of all the potential subjects." Jones said.

He turned back to the screen "Very good." He had not told Christine that she was not the only recruit they had targeted for this job, there were a handful of others who had taken this test, some had passed, and others had not. "What does the file say now?"

Christine read the message on the screen, "Enterprise001 uploading, 65, wait 66% complete, Checking files for errors, Scanning…Hey!" A red message popped up on her screen and she read it too, "Enterprise001 has crashed, proceed with restoration or continue to Enterprise002?"

She looked at the camera questioningly. Smith shrugged despite that she could not see him, the gesture simply felt natural. "Make your choice." He said, "Do you think it is better to continue with the Enterprise002 or should you go back and rehack Enterprise001?"

"Is this part of the test, or am I just unlucky?" Christine didn't wait for an answer, which was good since she wasn't going to get one.

"Tell me Miss Edwards, why did you decide to go back?" Smith asked.

Christine turned to the camera "Well you said Enterprise001 was needed for the next part, and it didn't finish downloading. I didn't hear anything about Enterprise002, so I might as well get 001 done and then do 002." She explained. "Besides, I'm in no hurry, its not like cops are going to be busting my door down to haul me away. I got all the time I need for this."

"Hmm, good, good." This was where many of the candidates had failed. Enterprise001 was supposed to crash and present the hacker with the option of restoration or moving on to what they assumed was the next step. In truth, Enterprise002 was a 'wild goose chase' which would end with the hacker's computer frozen, failed, and the hacker taken away to have their memories modified and the deal with the Agents forgotten.

"65%... 66%... 70… 75… 82%..." Christine read off the increase of the download as she waited for it to finish. At last the computer beeped, another message popped up, "Enterprise001 fully downloaded, enter?"

She clicked yes, and was asked for a password, she typed in a few digits, she received a warning that made her frown, she started typing again, and got through, "I think I accidentally hit the wrong key." She said.

The Agents nodded, "Still doing good Miss Edwards." Smith told her.

Christie gave the camera a thumbs up, so far so good. They continued with this test for a full hour before the firewall security detailing finally got the best of her. Johnson added this to his notes. It wasn't the furthest an recruit had gotten on this test, but none of the others had reached that level in that amount of time. Smith had to admit he was impressed. He had underestimated Christine, and now he was intrigued. He found himself wanting her to be picked for this assignment.

He wanted to see what she could do…

**Author's end note: **I hope you enjoyed, I probably won't update again for a while, as I said before I don't usually update things twice a week, so you'll get a new chapter when you get a new chapter. Everybody have a good life!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **Hello again dear readers. Once I must recommend looking at the magnificent works of the awesome Deviant **Agentsmithtrollplz **on DA, links are still in my profile ;p

**Warning: **Some slightly inappropriate imagery, possibly language, again I have the basic outline of this story planned out, but I'm really just sort of making up the fine details as I go.

**Disclaimer: **I have a confession. My name isn't Wachowski, and I am a girl so I'm not one of the brothers. I have no right to claim the Matrix as my own.

Hollow

Christine wasn't an artist, her friend Cynthia was _much_ better at drawing, but she liked to consider herself decent at it, and after spending several minutes scribbling out a penis somebody had oh so maturely drawn in the history textbook that had been rented to her, she felt obligated to draw something that _wouldn't _burn the eyes of the innocent. Mr. Boulton, her sixth period teacher was as old as history itself, and was probably giving lectures about the civil war from memory, so it was pretty easy to daydream and doodle while he, er, 'taught'.

Christine wasn't sure why she ended up drawing the three agents that had approached her in the computer lab. It wasn't a particularly good drawing, the man in the center was the best, but it was better than a pen-penis. The young woman glanced at the clock above her teacher's head, still five minutes until the final bell rang, five minutes that couldn't go by fast enough. She turned her attention from Mr. Boulton's uncharismatic monotone back to her doodle of the agents, and filled in the blob of lines she drew on top of their heads so that they at least remotely resembled hair, and drew the sunglasses over their eyes.

Christine paused to look at it, her eyes drifted to the one in the middle, the one that looked most like how the agents really did look, and scratched a name underneath his picture "Smith".

Then the bell rang. Like everyone in the class, Christine didn't wait, she pushed herself out of her chair, grabbing her backpack with one hand and flinging it over her shoulders while simultaneously closing her book and slipping it under her arm as she made a break for the door. As usual, she made it out into the hall and to her locker to drop off her books in under two minutes. Christine was beginning to suspect the school was planning on teacher strike or something because of how often she was leaving without homework.

She quickly turned her lock's four digit combination and it fell away with a click. Wasting no time, preferring she be out the school doors as quickly as possible today, Christine all but threw the history book in the locker, and without thinking, grabbed the package of Jolly Rancher hard candies she kept in her locker.

Christine ducked between the crowds, heading for the nearest exit of the school. If she could just make it...!

"Christine!" A voice made her stop in her tracks. _Drat_.

Dutifully the young woman turned to face her friend Cynthia who stalked steadily toward her, crowds parting in her presence.

Christine and Cynthia had been friends in elementary school, a friendship that had lasted as best it could while Christine was passed around the city, but recently Cynthia had been hanging out with different people than they used to, and Christine had yet to adjust to them. "Hey!" Cynthia wrapped an arm around Christine's shoulders, "So, did you decide if you were coming to the mall with us?"

They looked like polar opposites, with Cynthia's hair as light as Christine's was dark, and while she wore a gray long sleeved hoodie, Cynthia wore a yellow t-shirt with a low neck, one girl wore jeans, the other shorts, tennis shoes and sandals.

Christine smiled awkwardly in Cynthia's embrace, "Umm, I..." She would have loved to go to the mall with Cynthia, and the girl's other friends, if those other friends didn't include a number of boys that made Christine uncomfortable, especially Tony Slander. He had made passes at Christine several times, and though she had turned him down, and he'd been polite about it the seventeen year old just unnerved Christine.

"I can't go Cynth." She said, trying to avoid telling her friend why.

Unfortunately Cynthia knew as well as Christine that there was steady decrease in homework across the school, they started walking "Why not? The Old man ground you for something?"

There was only so much lying Christine could do to her friend, "No..."

"Then what's the problem?" They passed through the main entrance and were just heading down the stairway in front of the school, Christine was about to panic for an answer when she saw what was beginning to be a familiar black car parked at the front of the school.

Her mouth dropped open slightly to see Agent Smith standing outside his car, seemingly waiting for her to get out of class. Somewhere out there, there was a God, and he liked Christine today. Cynthia followed her gaze to the man and the car, glancing questioningly at Christine when Smith spoke up.

"Is there anything you need to do before we get started?" He asked looking directly at Christine.

"Who is that?" Cynthia asked.

"He's uhh...Smith. And the reason I can't go to the mall." Christine answered her friend first, glad that she was actually no longer lying, she then turned to Smith, "No, nothing." She headed towards the agent, who opened the passenger door for her before returning to the driver's side himself.

"Christine!" Cynthia called, causing her to glance back at her before she shut the door. "What's this about?"

"Sorry!" Christine replied, "I can't say, see you on Monday Cynth!"

Agent Smith waited until she had her seat belt on before he started the engine and pulled slowly into the parking lot's after school traffic, carefully avoiding each and every idiot teenager who dashed out in front of his car. When they reached the street Christine realized she still had the package of Jolly Rangers and picked a candy out of the package and put it in her mouth.

At a stoplight she noticed Smith's gaze on her behind his sunglasses. The young woman offered the bag to him "Want one?" She asked.

"..." Smith reached into the bag and pulled free a green apple flavored Jolly Rancher, and stared at it a moment like he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with it before he unwrapped it and followed her example of putting it in his mouth. "Thank you." He said politely.

"You're welcome." Christine replied as the light turned green she glanced out the window and back again. Smith had a steaming cup of coffee in his cup holder, but it appeared to be untouched, probably still too hot. "Same drill as last time?" She asked.

"Not exactly." Smith replied vaguely. He reached into his pocket and started to pull out a blindfold, different from the itching one from her last visit, but suddenly he stopped and put both hands back on the wheel, his head cocked slightly.

"What's going on?" Christine asked.

Smith didn't answer, but signaled the car behind him that he was turning to the left. The agent didn't say a word until he pulled into the parking lot of an old abandoned building. Christine was familiar with it, when she was little it used to be a bakery, her third grade class had gone on a field trip here once, but a few 'incidents' had occurred that had caused the place to go out of business. After that no one had dared pay the lease and it had just stayed empty and abandoned for years, Christine knew teenagers liked to hang out there occasionally, and had gone to a party with Cynthia there once, but the building gave her the creeps, like there was something wrong with it. Rumor had it the old bakery was haunted.

Agent Smith unhooked his seat belt, and said four little words to her before he shut the door and headed toward the entrance, "Stay in the car." She could see him reach into his jacket for his gun.

Smith kept a hand on the Desert Eagle, his fingers closed around it ready to pull it free and fire should the need arise, but did not bring it out yet, he wouldn't unless he needed it. He crossed the factory floor swiftly and soundlessly, cocking his head slightly, listening for anything that could be a threat.

The old bakery had been closed because of glitches in the Matrix, and it had become a hide out for exiles, as a result the Agency kept their eyes on it while the Machines and Programmers worked on fixing other 'hot spots' of matrix where strange things happened as a result of faulty programming.

"Ahhhh."

A human probably wouldn't have heard the soft pained moan from down the hall, but Agent Smith's ears were able to pick up the sound. He followed the noise, his grip on the Desert Eagle tightening ever so slightly. He turned a corner and there they were, not even hiding.

Ethereals, he suspected as much. There were two of them, unnaturally tall, with green skin, wearing matching lab coats; they were leaning over a captive human performing an experiment. Smith assessed the situation in seconds, two exiles no matter what type were no match for him, but the human witness could be a problem. She would need to have her memory modified, and he already had his hands full with Christine. Smith cocked his head again, issuing a silent order for other Agents to arrive on the scene as soon as possible.

Suddenly one of the Ethereals turned around and spotted him. It gave a cry of alarm and terror, alerting the other to his presence. The first Ethereal cloaked itself in a feeble attempt to hide itself from the Agent and tried to run. The other howled half in fear and half in rage; reaching into its coat for a weapon. Smith was faster, and had his weapon pointed and ready to fire. The one that had tried to make itself invisible tried to rush passed him, Smith dispatched it in a single shot to the head. His teeth clenched in annoyance, the Source didn't approve of killing exiles, but any agent would rather face deletion himself before he let one get away.

Another howl sounded from the second Ethereal, mournful, enraged at the death of its comrade, it fired at Smith blindly. The Agent was too fast for even its 'advanced' weaponry. Instead of firing bullets, the strange shaped gun the Ethereal held fired energy blasts. Such weaponry was more for show to frighten the humans they encountered than anything. Even if the shots had hit Smith he would have felt nothing more than a strange itchy burn, but due to his superior speed the Agent didn't even feel the breeze left by them as they passed him.

Fear started to show in the Ethereal's eyes more than rage now and it, like its partner before, tried to hide from Smith with invisibility. Programmed to keep order against threats to the system of the Matrix, Smith saw through the illusion however, and raised his gun again as the Ethereal ran for the back exit. He wouldn't kill this one, he was in for it as it was for killing the first, but he needed to bring the other in for questioning, to find out what its goal in experimenting on the human had been.

He fired the gun, his aim perfect, the bullet pierced through its leg. It shrieked as it stumbled, but it didn't go down right away, and limped toward the door. Before it reached it however, the door opened, Agents Brown and Jones had arrived on scene, the Ethereal cried out, but was silenced when Brown provided one swift punch to its face, knocking it out. Jones then quickly placed a pair of handcuffs around its wrists; these were specially programmed handcuffs which returned the Ethereal to its original human form.

She was a young woman, Smith recognized the program. She had once been in charge of the movements of the constellations, but her programming was long out dated, and she had been replaced with another more efficient program and called to the Source for deletion. She had never arrived. Exiled herself.

Why?

Agents understood the beauty of order, and how everything in the Matrix fit together, why sometimes Programs and even Agents like themselves needed to be reprogrammed or replaced. Smith himself was probably due for a rewrite soon, maybe deletion, he knew it was inevitable, and part of what kept the Matrix function. So he couldn't comprehend at all while a program would try to run from this fate, one shared, not only by all programs, but all life, man and machine. They lived; they died. It was an endless chain necessary for keeping balance, both in and out of the Matrix. Why did none but the Agents see that?

No Agent had ever denied that truth, none ever failed to report for deletion, no Agent had ever become an exile.

None probably would.

Smith continued to look at the fallen Ethereal as Jones hauled her to her feet. She seemed dazed, but still recognized him, she spat in his direction, salvia landed a few inches from his feet, "You're monsters!" She hissed at him.

"We aren't the ones performing experiments on the humans." Smith said calmly.

The program looked passed him to her dead companion on the floor, in death he had returned to his own normal form, a boy, barely older than thirteen he suspected. A son of sorts, perhaps, to her. She spat at him again, still missing by inches. "Humans are prisoners here! And so are we! But they can escape, I want to escape!" She cried. Jones pulled her away; she continued to scream as the other Agent led her outside, toward his own car which he and Brown had come in.

Speaking of Brown, he was with the human witness. The girl was a little younger than Christine, her eyes were red, like she had been crying, or kept awake for too long. Probably both, Smith suspected. Brown spoke to her in a soft calming tone, she wrapped her arms around him sobbing, Smith flinched inwardly watching it. He understood her current predicament was not her fault, but still she reeked of filth and violation. Brown's lips twitched uncertainly, but helped the girl to her feet and led her away too. Another program would arrive sometime to dispose of the body of the male Ethereal, so Smith was no longer needed at this vicinity, and turned to make his leave as well.

The sun seemed almost too bright when he left the bakery. His sunglasses prevented and shock to his eyes, but still Smith paused a moment to blink. Then he noticed Christine had gotten out of the car. The door was still open and she merely stood by it, looking questioningly at the other cars and the raving woman being shoved into one, the young girl who was crying, and being placed gently in the other. Christine looked his way, and shut the door to his car as she started towards him.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"I told you to stay in the car." Smith said, he didn't sound angry, just stating a fact.

"Well it's hot in there, and there's a woman screaming about prisoners and being free. What's going on?"

Smith opened the driver's side door and climbed back in. Christine was right, the temperature in the car was uncomfortable, but he couldn't tell her what had happened, at least not the full truth. "There was an anonymous call to our Agency about seeing some suspicious activity here. We suspected it might have something to do with a classified case we are investigating. We were right."

"How did you even know about this call?" Christine asked. She was human she didn't understand. Smith tapped his earpiece in response, "Really? Do you ever take that thing off?"

Smith paused a moment before he answered with a lie. "Of course. Once I am off duty I am not required to wear it, so I take it off." He preferred not to engage in any further conversation on this matter so once again he reached into his pocket for the blindfold. "Put this on. Today we need to test your programming skills."

"Programming? Whatever." Christine took the blindfold, clearly disappointed with how little information she had gotten about what had transpired.

Smith did not speak to her again until they got back to headquarters, but his mind raced with a single thought, one prompted by her question: _Do you ever take that thing off?_

What would happen if he did?

**Author's end note: ** Should probably cut it off there. Next chapter may or not be short, depend on how much I feel like writing. Thanks for reading, and please remember to review with in comments or questions, and feel free to leave a few suggestions too.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **Thank you guys all so much for all the great feed back (_Digital Angel_ you need to get an account here so we can talk about how you can apparently read my mind ^_~). I'm glad everyone one enjoyed the last chapter, and am very happy so many of you thought I did everything on purpose. I basically had 'Smith picks up Christine from school' as the plot of last chapter, everything else was made up on the dot.

**Warning: **After my build up last time is it a spoiler to warn you that Smith takes off his earpiece?

**Disclaimer: **-insert here-

Hollow

It had started to rain when Agent Smith led Christine back to his car. Considering how hot it had been earlier that afternoon, it was odd that water now fell from the sky. A freak weather change is what a man on the radio called it. Smith knew better. He knew it was the work of programs that couldn't agree on the season, this had been happening with more frequency lately. Perhaps it was time to replace those programs.

Smith pulled up to the house which was Christine's current foster home. She pulled her hood up and handed him a third piece of her hard candy before she said good-bye and exited the vehicle, running up to the house to get out of the rain. Smith pocketed the candy for later, he still had the second one in his mouth.

He hadn't been too impressed with these "Jolly Ranchers" at first. His plan had been to accept the candy to be polite and dispose of it when Christine was not looking. But during his venture into the bakery to take care of the exile problem, the candy had melted in his mouth, voiding the need to get rid of it later.

After he took Christine to the facility that the Agents worked from to test her programming skills (programming wasn't exactly her forte, but Christine showed some promise), he had led her back to his car, and she'd offered him a second piece, a red one this time. He hadn't expected it to taste different so his senses had been caught off guard, but in a way that he found somewhat pleasant.

Christine waved to him from the porch before she went inside disappearing from view. Smith found he had raised his hand to return the gesture. Odd. He worked with other humans and programs, he's seen them exchange this sort of farewell, but he had never himself participated in it. He never felt enough familiarity with anyone to do so.

Smith cocked his head as he pulled away from the house. He considered the possible meanings of his decision to wave back to Christine as she left. He had work to do, he would have to think about this more thoroughly later. In the meantime there was a bank robbery taking place a few blocks away and down the hill. Thus far it appeared to just be mere human action, but he was ordered to keep an eye on the situation, in case there were more exiles, or human rebels.

_"How did you even know about this call?"_

Agent Smith recalled Christine's curiosity about how he knew about the Ethereals from earlier, he suspected she would have questions about the bank robbery too if she were still here. He remembered her question, too, about taking off his earpiece. The inquiry had never truly left his mind, and curiously he fingered the small device in his ear.

This little thing was what connected him to the Source, nothing that happened in the Matrix was beyond his ability to see as long as there was some sort of witness. At the moment, the bank robbers, both still plugged in humans, were jumping into a car, their get-away vehicle. Smith stroked his ear piece. What would happen if he…

He pulled the ear piece out.

And was struck suddenly by the silence.

Of course it wasn't completely silent. Rain continued to fall, splattering against the windshield of his car. The window wiper pumped back and forth, and each time it did it made the same repetitive _whumf_. The car engines themselves made a soft humming noise, and Smith could here the splatter of water as he drove through puddles. In the cup holder, the coffee Christine had noticed earlier, jiggled with the movement of the car, the untouched and now cold liquid made its own small noises.

No, it wasn't silent, but something was missing.

It occurred to Smith that he didn't know where he was. Well, he knew _where_ he was, of course, he was on 54th street, a few blocks away from where he had dropped of Christine. But he didn't know where he _was_. He didn't know what was happening around him, what the current situation with the bank robbery was. Smith noticed that his hands had started shaking. The world was full of sound, but some how it was still too quiet.

Perhaps if he turned on the radio…

Smith tried to calm himself, aware now that he was showing signs of distress. The music helped. The Agent wasn't overly fond of human music, especially not of this period, which was why he kept his car radio on a station that played music from earlier centuries, "classical music" he'd heard it called. The song that was playing when Smith turned his radio on was over. A man named the piece, and its original composer, Smith was accustom to the sound of this man's voice, it calmed him somehow, yet he noticed that his voice seemed different, now that he was listening to him without the ear piece.

More music began to play; the Agent lifted his head, recognizing it. It was the 1812 Overture, a piece he did admit a certain liking for. He reached a stop light and turned the radio up. Smith tapped his fingers against the steering wheel in turn with the music. He had seen humans do it in their cars, but never understood why they did it. Brown had once proposed a theory that it was some sort of code humans used to communicate across distances, the theory had been rejected, it appeared to just be something humans did while listening to music.

While he still didn't fully understand it, Smith was beginning to see why they did it.

Movement outside caught his attention. There was a bird in a yard, braving the rain looking for worms, or sticks. It wasn't real, it was merely a program designed to look and behave like a bird. Smith had never seen a real bird, no one had, and he found himself wondering if that was how a bird really behaved.

Then, suddenly, there was a flash of yellow-brown movement. A cat. It caught the bird, also braving the rain to find a meal. One life ended so another could continue. It was beautiful in its way. Another balance, order that nature created long before machine, and long before man. Smith looked beyond the cat and the bird, to everything else.

As an Agent he had never looked beyond what was in front of him, he never needed to. What laid before him was his path, everything else was unimportant…but beautiful, he now noticed. The detail of the Matrix was incredible, marvelous. The rain fell in sparkling drops, and occasionally the sun would peek through the black clouds, lighting the sky. There were hundreds of trees, with hundreds or branches, covered with hundreds of leaves. In those trees where small creatures, insects, mammals, birds, even a few small lizards hid in them. On the ground, there was grass, concrete and cement, thousands of blades of grass, cracks in the cement, holes concrete. This road was in need of repair.

The Matrix was _beautiful_.

A horn honked behind him. The light had turned green, and cars had started to form a line behind his. Agent Smith turned his attention back in front of him, it didn't matter, all of a sudden, that he had no idea what was happening around him. There was a lot more than what the Source told him.

Including a get-away car speeding to get away from cops.

As Smith's car rolled out into the intersection, the bank robbers from before turned into the corresponding road, and ran the light, not paying attention to what was in front of _them_. The vehicles collided. Smith's car, being the smaller of the two, was crushed by the other, both vehicles spun wildly out of control in the water filled street. Horns honked in alarm, and creatures jumped from their hiding places, started by the noise.

But Smith knew none of this.

The impact of the cars caught him entirely by surprise, he didn't know how to react, the cars continued to spin, and crash into a ravine. Pain. He was in pain. Agents didn't feel pain the same way humans did, he barely noticed every day pains, and even being shot barely made him feel anything more than slight annoyance. But now he was in pain.

He vacated the body he was using. There was a young man on the sidewalk near by, a witness to the accident, he took that body. Through a newly attached earpiece, he heard the song of the Source, relaying the accident to any other Agents nearby, and that a Vamp had been spotted by an old church on the other side of town. Agent Smith stayed where he was, his hands were shaking again as he lifted one to his ear piece.

_Never again. _ He thought with a forced calmness, _I'm never taking this off again._

Strangely he thought of Christine, and felt grateful that he hadn't taken the earpiece off while she had still been in the car with him. He wasn't sure why.

One other thing he noticed was that the Jolly Rancher in his pocket was gone.

**Author's end note: **Pretty exciting right?


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: **Random little thing: as I write this, my sister and I have been babysitting the last couple of days and recently we brought _The Matrix_ over, and the kid watched the last ten minutes with us. During those ten minutes we convinced him that Neo is a wuss and Agent Smith is the most awesome thing ever. Job = Complete.

**Warning: **Oh yay, I think this chapter actually has plot instead of build up. Attention: the song which they are listening to in the car is a real song by a band called Epica and I _THINK_ it was remixed from a movie, I don't know for sure and the internet can't seem to tell me, we're just pretending right now that its an actual classical piece.

**Disclaimer: **If I owned the Matrix I would be spending a fortune making a prequel movie instead of writing this fanfiction.

Hollow

Agent Smith was waiting outside Christine's school again, a job he was beginning to get used to. Jones and Brown were sitting in the car, but Smith stood in the rain listening for the final bell that signaled Christine's release. It had been raining for the last week. At first it had bothered Smith, being a reminder of his experience in the car crash, which he'd had a rough time explaining to his colleagues, eventually convincing them it had been an unfortunate mix of terrible road conditions, the traction of his car tires in the rain, the impatience of the humans behind him, and his own misjudgment of the speed of the humans responsible for the crash.

But after a while Smith was completely over the odd occurrence, and turned his attention away from the crash, and to what he'd experienced before it. Despite his vow to never remove his earpiece again, Smith had found himself pulling it free occasionally, to view the world of the Matrix, but not in the car, too risky. He fingered it now, contemplating removing it again, but then the bell rang and his hand dropped back to his side.

Within moments the entrance to the school was flooded with adolescent humans who, since it was Friday, proclaimed their freedom as they rushed away from the building. Smith contemplated the irony of their declaration. True they were no longer confined within the walls of their school, but they were still trapped in the world of the Matrix, unknowing prisoners. Smith shifted his weight uneasily from one foot to another.

He'd always thought of his job as an Agent in a likeness to a prison guard, whenever a human or program tried to escape it was his duty, and the duty of the other Agents to eliminate the problems before they spread and created a prison riot...But recently he had began to realize that there was a whole world outside the prison that he had previously been unaware of. Guard or not, he was still trapped inside with them.

Was he any freer than the humans were?

His thoughts were interrupted by a familiar figure exiting the front doors of the school. Christine's eyes were to the ground, hood up trying to keep rain out of her face, but Smith recognized the unique way her body moved as she walked, and as she got closer, though masked by the rain; her personal scent. Early in their acquaintanceship Smith had taken note of the fact that Christine did not reek of human stink as much as others of her species did, most likely due to her solitary nature, and by now he hardly noticed it at all.

Christine had not spotted him yet, too busy watching where her feet were being placed, so Smith called her name and she looked up. Her face brightened "Oh hey, look who it is." She said as she approached, "I was worried about you."

Smith cocked his head, "Worried?" his eyebrow raised slightly at her concern, as he returned to the driver's side of the car and took his seat. "Why?"

Christine got in the passenger side, "Didn't you hear about the car crash last week? It happened just after you dropped me off, and only a couple of blocks away, I was afraid you were involved, they said all the people in it were killed." In the back seat the other Agents exchanged a glance, Christine noted their presence. "Jones and Brown, right?" she identified them from memory, though mixed them up.

"I'm Jones," The older of the two Agents corrected, "He's Brown."

"Right. Sorry." She reached into her backpack and pulled free her package of hard candy, and offered the bag to them "Jolly Rancher?"

Jones and Brown glanced from the bag to Smith, he nodded, encouraging them to take a piece, Brown complied, but Jones shook his head, "I don't eat sweets." He said.

"Okay," Christine replied taking the package back and offering it to Smith, he took one and noticed that there were only a few left in it. He unwrapped the candy and placed it in his mouth. In the mirror he saw Brown watch, and then mimic the action.

"Thank you." He told Christine, and once again Brown followed his example.

Of the three of them Smith was the oldest, not in the sense of physical age the way human kept track of it, no, but in programming age. Smith had been present, though young, in the time of the last One, several hundred years ago by human calculation. He had different partners then. Agents Noble and Barns.

Noble had been destroyed by the One, and replaced with Jones, Barnes had been replaced with Brown more recently, making Agent Brown the youngest of their trio and Smith the oldest, which meant Brown looked to Smith to see how to behave in the company of humans. Jones had done the same thing when he was first programmed, but since then had ceased mimicry in favor of making his own decisions on how interact with humans, though Smith's distain for them clearly rubbed off on his colleges.

They both had stiffened since Christine had entered the vehicle, but since Smith did not seem troubled by her presence, they were beginning to relax. "What's this we're listening to?" Christine asked suddenly, referring to the radio which Smith had begun to leave on at all times while in the car.

It only took a few moments of listening for the lead Agent to identify the song in question. "Yves Huts' The Unholy Trinity" he answered.

"Unholy Trinity huh...Trinity..." Christine repeated musing the title over aloud and glancing through the car at the three Agents. "Trinity...I like it."

Smith wasn't sure what she was referring to with that comment, if she liked the music, the title, or simply the word 'trinity'. It didn't matter; he reached into his pocket and brought forth her blindfold while the light was red. "Aw, that again?" Christine complained only half serious as she took it and tied it over her eyes. "Am I always going to need to be blindfolded, or do I get to go without it someday?" She asked.

Smith glanced at her, "If you are selected amongst the current candidates, you will be allowed to go to headquarters without the blindfold." He explained, Christine's expression dropped when he spoke. "Is there something wrong?"

"There are other candidates?" She muttered. "Of course there are. What was I thinking?"

"Christine?" He didn't understand what she was mumbling about. "You didn't think you _were_ the only candidate did you?"

"Yes. I mean, no." Christine stumbled around for an answer. "I _knew_ I couldn't be, but I hoped I was. I just wanted to be…" She trailed off, the light ahead of them turned green again.

"Wanted to be…?" Brown repeated from the back, mimicking Smith's interest in conversation with Christine. Smith silenced him with a look, Jones touched his partner's hand and nodded to Smith, clarifying that the oldest Agent preferred to do all the talking for now.

Blindfolded, Christine did not now about the silent communication between the three agents and she answered Brown, "To be special." She said with a downhearted tone. Smith glanced at her through his sunglasses, ever so slightly surprised by her answer. "I bet that sounds silly. It probably is. But you know, when you keep moving around in foster care because no one wants to keep you…You just want to feel like someone needs you, because you're special. I don't know if that made any sense, but…"

Smith turned to face her entirely and put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, the way he had observed humans do to one another in times of distress. Christine didn't say anything further and Smith had to put both hands back on the wheel. Oddly he found himself sympathizing with her. It occurred to him sometime, even before he removed his earpiece, that the agents we basically all the same. He hadn't thought too much about it, but now that Christine brought it up, he was curious. What made special…special, and if being special was so good, what about Agent Smith was special?

Jones and Brown exchanged another look behind him. They were sharing the same thought, but it was something they didn't want to say out loud while a human was present. Smith gritted his teeth silently, he hated when his teammates didn't included him. Of course he was keeping things from them too, so perhaps he shouldn't be so annoyed with them, after all they would speak their minds once they were away from Christine. Smith on the other hand, wanted to keep these thoughts to himself.

The rest of the trip to the government building the Agents used as headquarters was spent in silence, save for Christine occasionally asking the title of a musical piece and Smith answering. After Smith parked he allowed Christine to take the blindfold off early. They were not going to a hidden level; he didn't see any harm in doing so, but Jones and Brown still gave him inquiring glances which he answered with a slight glower. In silence again, they went to the elevator, floor nine. Humans shared this level with programs, oblivious to the nature of their colleagues.

Today a room had been reserved for the use of this project. All across the Matrix, hackers had been gathered and tested. Sooner or later human rebels would have taken notice of them, which was precisely why the agency had gathered them. Five would be selected today, to further train and test for infiltration of the terrorist organization led by codename Morpheus, among those five only one would be chosen.

The chances were slim, there were many better hackers, and many better programmers, but Smith's favor went to Christine. She was a smart, young human, with fewer stings attached to her that would prove to be a distraction during this project, Christine had focus and will to keep going, to prove herself.

To be 'special'.

Smith pointed her to the room, "Find a seat in here, they will announce if you are chosen to go on." He instructed guiding her.

Christine hesitated to leave his side, "Where will you be?" She asked, he blue eyes darted around nervously, the amount of people in the room seemed to unnerve her. The room smelled overly human, and though Smith understood her desire to not be left alone, his obligations were elsewhere for now.

"I have a few errands to run. This will not take long, and I will be out here when you return." He assured her, pushing the young woman forward encouragingly until at last she took a few steps away from him and mingled into the crowd of candidates and found a seat. "Good luck." He said, even though she could not longer hear him.

When Smith turned away again, Jones and Brown were beside him. "Do you like her?" Brown asked.

Smith's lip twitched downward at the inquiry. "I prefer Christine's company over that of other humans, if that is what you mean." He answered.

"She is much more tolerable." Jones agreed, glancing between Brown and Smith. His gaze settled on Smith. "Do you like Miss Edwards?" He asked, repeating Brown's question.

Smith was annoyed by them, his eyebrows furrowed to shown his mood, "As I said, I prefer Christine to other humans. I like her enough to do this job and see it through, but nothing more."

Jones and Brown continued to look at him for a moment longer, judging his answer, but at last deciding it was satisfactory response and turning away. The three of them had papers to go through, some human protocol they were obliged to follow in order to blend in, but before Smith followed Jones and Brown he took one last glance into the room full of candidates and spotted Christine. She was looking away from him. He stood and watched her a moment, but dutifully turned away to do his job.

The moment he was gone, Christine turned around and noticed his absence. She'd just missed him, but it seemed to her like he'd gone a long time ago. She fidgeted in her seat, wanting to run away, find a little corner somewhere to curl up in and not be noticed. There were a lot of people here, a lot of candidates, enough to fill up all the chairs. Most of them were older and more experienced than her, no doubt. What chance did she have of being chosen amongst them?

So Christine sat in silence and misery, almost wishing Agents Smith, Jones and Brown hadn't approached her in the computer lab a few months ago. She didn't do to well with crowds or people, and Christine felt like any minute now she would bolt to the door...or throw up. The pressure of being a candidate that could or could not be chosen didn't do anything for her nerves. She really wanted to be chosen, but she didn't know what she would do if she wasn't. It seemed like a full hour had passed before men in suits, not Agents like Smith, but just guys in suits, entered the room and lined the walls.

Oh she was definitely going to throw up.

Just as Christine started to rise to make a break for the bathroom, a old man walked up to a podium at the front of the room. The man rose a hand crowd slowly silenced. He was clean and professional from head to toe. His hair and beard were neatly trimmed, and as white as his suite which sported no other color aside from a black tie which was tucked neatly under his coat. Everything about him suggested importance. The man spoke plainly.

"There is much work to be done to keep this place running, so we must keep this brief." He spoke as if to children, and something about him made Christine freeze, even the overwhelming urge to vomit seemed to still listening to him. "You have all been contacted by my Agents about a plan to capture a terrorist that has been causing trouble for our system. You have all been tested, assessed, and the future of this project has been discussed thoroughly."

"There is no need for so many hackers, in fact the less the better. We have selected five from this room to continue on. The rest of you will be escorted to another room where you will sign agreements to never speak of this place, or the testing you have received."

"If you are among the five chosen you may go about your business until we contact you again. The man concluded with an authoritative tone that could not be argued with. "Anyone not understand?"

No one spoke up.

"Very well. If your name is not called, you will remain here until I tell you other wise, however if your name is, Trevor Avery, Debra Michaels, Zachery Clemmens, Christine Edwards, or Danielle Irons you may go. We will reach you again by e-mail with your first assignments."

Christine hesitated a moment. Her heart beat sounded like thunder in her ears. She had been called, chosen. She felt like she was going to throw up again, but as the other selected candidates rose she found herself getting to her feet. Christine's knees felt like they were going to drop out underneath her, but she'd been chosen. The other four chosen candidates looked at her, and each other.

Christine was the youngest, only in high school, but the others looked as if they'd all been out of school for sometime. She offered them the strongest smile she could muster with how weak she was feeling. One of the girls, the younger of them offered her a hand "My name's Danielle. Call me Glitch." She said.

Danielle had a tropical look to her, probably of Hawaiian descent, she was at least two men, both at least thirty Caucasian, shook her hand as well offering best of luck. Trevor was taller with blond hair, Zachary, shorter but thinner with black hair, they didn't have nicknames. Danielle scolded them playfully saying they needed to have hacker alias. They were all dressed casually, nothing special about them, just more people who spent their free time immersed in their computers.

Christine turned to the fourth person who's name had been called. Debra Michaels. She was an older woman, closer to forty. Her lips were thin, her golden-blond hair was streaked with gray and cropped to her shoulder. She was wearing a all black, a bit on the fancy side, like something someone might wear to a funeral. Her eyes were hard, and she wore an expression that suggested she didn't see this as an opportunity to familiarize herself with these people. She looked at them like they were competition.

Debra didn't even stick around to say hello, she merely nodded in their direction and left them. "That was rude." Glitch said looking after Debra, "Aw well, congratulations on being picked, I hope we get to work together sometime, and get yourselves some nicknames, we can let some terrorists know who we really are, can we?" She winked at them and excused herself. Zachary and Trevor did the same, but together, it seemed that the two of them were friends.

Christine was alone again, but with them gone she realized she'd wandered passed where Smith had said he'd be when he was done with his errands. She navigated her way back, passing other doors, and getting questioning looks from a few of the people working at this building, no one stopped her though, probably assumed she was someone's daughter.

As he promised Smith was waiting for her. There were other Agents with him, several more, in fact almost everyone in the hall seemed to be an Agent, but Christine could tell him apart from them. The man from the conference room stood in front of him, saying something to him. Smith's expression didn't change, but he nodded and the man turned away, escorted by a few of the Agents.

Christine's heart started to pound, and she rushed up to Smith, excited, "Smith!" She called, "I was picked!" She laughed, all of her nervousness gone and she through her arms around the Agent in relief, realizing that part of her had secretly terrified she might never see him again if she wasn't chosen.

Smith grunted slightly when she hugged him. He hadn't seen her come out, and he'd assumed that meant she had not been picked among the five until the Architect had said so, warning him to keep a close eye on her, they could not let the human rebels get her at this point. Smith wondered how Christine had gotten passed him without him noticing, he would have asked, but her action of embracing him had caught him off guard. He glanced at his fellow Agents, wondering what to do. Jones and Brown looked at him, waiting to see how he responded, but none of the others cast even a sideways glance at him.

Unsure if it was the right thing to do Smith returned the embrace, if only briefly and quite awkwardly, "Congratulations" He said pushing her off him. "Shall I give you a ride home then?" Christine nodded enthusiastically, clearly the fact she that she'd been chosen had her elated. The other Agents, not even Jones and Brown made any comment though he could feel eyes on him. Smith adjusted his tie and followed after Christine who was practically dancing her way to an elevator.

The Architect had been speaking to him a moment ago, asking him to keep close watch over this girl. To make sure the human rebellion didn't unplug her before the job was complete. Not a problem. If any human tried to take Christine out of the Matrix they would have to go through Smith first.

**Author's end note: **Awww, isn't Smith cute when he's being possessive? The best part is he doesn't even know he's being possessive XD Thanks for reading! I'll be back as soon as I can with the next chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **You are reading my note.

**Warning: **This chapter takes place mostly from Christine/Trinity's POV, rather than being mostly Smith centric as the last few chapters have been. I'm not necessarily nice to characters…

**Disclaimer: **-shrugs-

Hollow

Christine was having an attitude all day. Normally quiet and wanting to stay invisible, she was now snapping at teachers and having aggressive arguments with her fellow students, and her friends didn't see her at lunch, because rumor had it she was in the bathroom crying. After the lunch break Christine had tried to stay far away from everyone, knowing that her friends were concerned but not wanting to talk to them. She just wanted to be alone.

So she broke her record of getting out of her final class and to her locker, but didn't leave the school, she didn't want to talk to _anyone. _She hid in the bathroom again. As soon as she thought it was safe, Christine left the stall and left the school, taking the back exit and the old trail.

Only to find an ambush waiting for her.

Cynthia, her best friend since elementary school, and Tony, the guy who wouldn't stop asking her out, were waiting for her on the old trail. Obviously they had been expecting her to come this way; Christine silently cursed herself for being a creature of habit. Cynthia approached her first, but didn't say anything, for which Christine was thankful. Tony, however, tried to take her hand when he reached her side, causing Christine to snatch it away and take a few steps closer to Cynthia.

"Jesus!" Tony said, "What's your problem?"

"I don't have a problem!" Christine snapped back, "Just don't touch me!" she accidentally backed into Cynthia, stepping on her foot and making the other girl yelp. "I'm sorry!" She apologized immediately.

"It's okay." Cynthia said putting up her hands in a calming motion. "Actually we should apologize; we were just worried about you and didn't want you to walk home alone."

"Yeah." Tony agreed. He was a tall lanky boy, with choppy brown hair and, despite the zits, a cute face. He was in a couple of after school clubs, but Christine didn't really care which ones. There were several girls who were a bit jealous of Christine for having his attention, but she simply wasn't interested, because in spite of his attractive appearance, Tony was just too obnoxious for her. He had too many friends, too many places he'd want her to go with him, and too much ego.

"I'll be fine; you guys didn't have to…" Christine adjusted a strap on her backpack and kept walking. Cynthia stayed by her side, but Tony hung back a little bit before he caught up with them. She turned to Cynthia as a jogger passed them heading the opposite way, "Thanks."

Cynthia offered her a hand, "That's what friends are for right?" Christine hesitated a moment, but took the proffered hand and thanked her again. "Hey, Christine… I don't know why you've been so edgy today, but maybe…I don't know… do you want to come over to my house for a bit? Maybe it'll take your mind off things."

The trail ended and they turned on to the road. Christine's heart pounded in her ears and so did the words her foster father had screamed at her that morning. _"We were better off before you came along!"_ Tears stung at Christine's eyes. She was about to tell Cynthia she would love to come over for a while, but two things stopped her.

The first was Tony announcing "I'm coming over too, maybe we can call a few of the guys and make it a party!" the second was the honk of a car horn behind them. Cynthia told Tony that there wasn't going to be a party, the horn honked again, Tony turned around and threw a rude gesture toward the car saying "Hey! We're over on as far as we can, stay on the road Jackass!" Christine frowned and tugged Tony's sleeve trying to get him to shut up, she recognized the car. And apparently so did Cynthia.

"Hey Christine isn't that the guy…?" Cynthia trailed off, not knowing who Smith really was. Christine nodded anyway, she was right after all. The car pulled up beside them and the window rolled down, Christine peeked inside. Apparently Smith had been waiting at the school to pick her up, but she hadn't come out.

"Smith?" She asked, "What are you doing here?"

The young woman could tell from the stern look that Smith clearly did not appreciate Tony's behavior. His nose crinkled as if he smelled something disgusting but didn't want to say anything, probably Tony again, the older boy's last class was a physical education course and he didn't shower until he got home, said it ruined his 'man smell'. But there was something else too; Christine noticed he was sitting rigidly like something was bothering him.

Seemed they'd both had a bad day.

"Am I interrupting something, or do you have time to come with me for an hour or so?" His teeth were clenched and his grip on the steering tightened. Tony opened his mouth and started to tell Smith that she had plans, but Christine told him to shut up.

"What's going on?" She asked, becoming concerned. Smith's eyes were almost invisible behind his sunglasses but she saw them dart from her to her friends. She glanced their way, obviously whatever this was about had something to do with the top secret assignment she was involved in. Christine turned back to Cynthia and Tony.

"Cynthia, would it be alright if I had Smith drop me off at your house later? I think this is important." She asked.

"Drop you off?" Tony asked, sounding kind of annoyed "Christine, who _is_ this guy?"

Christine glanced at Smith; he was looking away and rolling his fingers against his door irritably. "I can't say…Cynth?"

Cynthia looked from Christine to the man in the car, then to Tony, and then Christine and Smith again. "Alright, just be careful. And you'll tell me what's been troubling you all day, right?" Cynthia stepped over and hugged her friend; Christine returned it gratefully, getting a nose full of Cynthia's floral scented hair. The blonde whispered in her ear, "You're blushing Christine."

She pulled away; the dark haired girl stuttered quietly "I am not!"

Cynthia only smiled, "See you later okay?"

"No it's not okay!" Tony blubbered as Christine got in the car, "Who is that _guy_?" The last thing Christine heard was Cynthia laughing before Smith rolled up the window and drove off. She expected him to give her the blindfold, but either she was no longer required to wear it, or he was too bothered by what this was about to remember he needed to give it to her. Whichever way, Christine decided not to mention it.

The car ride was spent it complete silence. Trees passed by and disappeared, replaced with houses, then small buildings, and then the large towers of the city. They were both tense, which only served to make Christine more upset. She almost jumped when Smith finally spoke up when they reached the heart of the city "Zachary Clemmens is dead." He said simply.

She recognized the name, but it took Christine a moment to remember where she'd heard it. "Wasn't he one of the…?" She trailed off when Smith nodded. Christine's heart skipped a beat. She knew Zachary from only a brief introduction, but he'd seemed pretty nice, it was a shock to learn that he was dead. "What happened?" She asked.

Smith pulled up to a tall government building that Christine had seen many times as she was passed across the city. Was this where she'd been taken all those times? "Mr. Clemmens and Mr. Avery were out in the city last night when gunfire opened on them."

"A robbery?" Christine hoped as she got out of the car and followed Smith toward the elevator they usually took when she was blindfolded.

"Possibly. But Mrs. Michaels claimed she's seen people following her, she believes that it may have been a deliberate attack on the two of them by members of the terrorist organization." His teeth were gritted. He was either lying, or simply didn't believe the claim.

Zachary Clemmens, Trevor Avery and, what-was-her-name, _Debra_ -Debra Michaels. Three out of the five candidates that had been chosen, and one of them was dead. "Is that what you think?" Christine asked while Smith fiddled with the buttons in the elevator.

"We don't know what to think right now. It's inconceivable that the terrorists already know of our project, and even less likely they could have tracked down Mr. Avery and Mr. Clemmens without us catching them." He paused for a second, "More likely it was an attack on the two of them for their homosexual relationship, but regardless you and Miss. Irons have been summoned for an interview."

Homosexual relationship? Christine had thought the two men were just friends, but what did she know of romantic relationships? Her face got warm when she realized she was staring at Smith. "What kind of interview?" Christine asked, deciding not to question any further about the two gay men.

"Just general security questions. Have you received any threats? Noticed anything strange, spotted anyone following you?" Smith didn't look pleased, "We've been assigned to keep watch over you and the other candidates, this attack has tarnished our reputation, we've been having to reassess everything we've had planned and rewrite…_everything_."

Ah no wonder he was so upset, everything they'd been working for had been almost destroyed in a single night. But this only made Christine nervous. If this _was_ a terrorist attack then she could also be a target, and she had enough troubles already.

The elevator lights dimmed and flashed. "What was that?" Christine asked. There was a soft rumble. Then the lights went out again. Flickered back to life, and died. The elevator stopped moving. The doors didn't open.

"Dammit!" This was the first time Christine had ever heard Agent Smith swear. In the dark she groped for his arm, frightened now. "The elevator's stuck again, that's the third time this week! Let go for a moment Christine." He slipped his arm out of hers and, she presumed, he reached for his ear piece to listen to something someone on the other end was telling him.

This was no help to either of their moods. Christine slunk away from him, bumping into the wall of the elevator and sliding to the floor. _"We were better off before you came along!"_ Great, what a perfect day she'd been having. First that huge fight with her Old Man, then all the stupid arguments she'd had throughout the day, then getting cornered by her friends (but that didn't turn out too badly), and then learning that one of the other candidate had been killed 'possibly' by terrorists, and now _this_?

Despite everything that was going wrong now, Christine's mind was completely centered on the fight with the Old Man, her foster father. Christine had stopped keeping track of how many families she'd been with, some of them she had tried and almost succeeded in finding a home with. Others, like this one, were simply a Hell.

Mr. and Mrs. Kettner were old enough to be someone's grandparents, and Diane, the Mrs. Was a sweet woman. Her husband Markus, though, was a war veteran, and he seemed to think he was still in the army. If he wanted something done, he ordered it done with a loud yell. The problem was that Christine didn't like being yelled at, and this caused her to yell back. And regardless of what happened, if something didn't go the way Markus wanted, it was somehow Christine's fault. She'd been threatened, screamed at and grounded more times than she cared for. There were only a handful of reasons she hadn't run away.

The first being Diane, she was always kind, apologizing for the Old Man and treating her fairly. She almost made life in that house bearable. The second was Cynthia; her best friend from her childhood. They'd been as close as sisters throughout elementary school, but in middle school Christine had been moved to a new foster home, and a different school. Cynthia had tried her best to keep in touch, but their friendship had almost dissolved by the time she got to this family and found out she and Cynthia attended the same school again. It was different between them now, but they meant a lot to each other and didn't want that friendship to die so they'd been trying to rebuild their relationship. Christine was glad to have her.

The third reason Christine hadn't runaway, spoke into some sort of communication line in his earpiece, asking how long it would take to get the elevator running again, or how long it would take for someone to come get them. Christine liked Smith, she liked Jones and Brown as well, but she knew Smith best. These Agents, and their jobs were really cool and she feel special enough just being considered good enough for their project. She wondered what she would be doing now if Smith hadn't approached her in the computer lab with his offer, and then she wondered what would happen if he came to pick her up one day and she was no longer there for him to.

_ "We were better off before you came along!"_

Christine buried her face into her knees, tears stung at her eyes again, slipping over her lids and sliding down her cheek. _Don't start crying_, she scolded herself. She was afraid. She'd runaway from foster homes before, but also she'd been run out, sent away. The Old Man was probably going to make a few phone calls to get her out of his house by the end of the week. What would happen then? Would she ever see Cynthia again, or Smith? Or would she just disappear into the streets of the city where no one would ever care? Or worse would she just be gunned down by terrorist?

"Fine, what ever you do just be quick about it." Smith said, and then went silent, she listened to his footsteps, he took two steps in the direction she'd bee standing, then back and away. "Christine? Where are you?" he called

"Over here. I'm on the floor." She answered. His footsteps came closer, she felt his hand touch her head, he was feeling the air to make sure he didn't step on her. Smith found the wall and sat beside her. Now she really couldn't cry, she didn't need to bother him any more than he already was. Christine wiped her eyes, and tried to take calm breaths, but one sniff from her running nose gave her away.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing." She lied.

Even in the dark he saw through it. "Your friend said something was troubling you, what is it?" Smith found her arm and patted in soothingly. "Clearly the news about Mr. Clemmens couldn't have upset you this much, so it must be about what your friend was concerned about."

Christine wiped her eyes, and let out one small sob before she told him everything, knowing it was pointless to lie. "The Old Man, that is, Mr. Kettner, we had a big fight…I mean we always fight…but today it was just _awful_…"

She told Smith what Markus had said, and that she was afraid that he would send her away again. Smith listened occasionally making a contemplative "Hmm" sound to let her know he was in fact still listening. Christine spilled her fear of not being able to go to the same school if she was moved, that she might lose Cynthia again, and the few other friends she'd managed to make while she was here. She told him she was also afraid that she might be attacked by the terrorists. Silence filled the elevator for a while.

"I…I'd also miss you…" She confessed.

"Miss me?" Smith asked. "I do not understand. I am not going anywhere."

Christine had to wipe more tears off her face, "What?"

"Christine, you understand that you are too involved in this project to just be taken away." Smith assured her. "If Mr. Kettner _does _in fact send you to a new foster home after this, we won't just let you disappear. I'd come find you."

Christine felt a smile on her lips, and her heart started beating a fraction faster. "Y-you promise? You…_You_ would come get me?"

"Yes."

It was a short simple answer. That was all Christine needed, she leaned against Smith, she was crying again, but tears of relief. Smith started talking again, something about how he doubted she would be targeted by the terror organization, something about them not being that bold. Christine tried to listen, but she was tired, tired from fighting all day, and from crying. Smith's voice was nice…too nice, she kept closing her eyes, just for a few moments, and opening them again to find he was talking about something unrelated to the last thing she'd heard. At last she closed her eyes again, and they didn't open because she was asleep.

Smith stopped talking once he knew Christine had dozed off, he could tell because of the way her breathing calmed. He didn't mind, she needed rest after what she'd been through all day. He drummed his fingers against the floor, impatient about the situation he was in with the elevator. The programs in charge of keeping this building functional were outdated, the Architect was working on new programs to control them, but there were a lot of systems in need of repair, the elevator was hardly a problem on the grander scale of things.

Christine shifted beside him, at first he thought she was waking up, but she didn't move any further; still asleep. Careful not to disturb her, Smith shrugged off his jacket and laid it across Christine. She probably didn't know because of the darkness, but he'd taken off his earpiece after he'd sat down, he wasn't listening to anything from the Source while she spoke, his attention had been entirely on her and in a way, it still was.

"If things were as you feared, Christine." He said softly, "If we were unable to track you down if you were moved away. I would miss you too."

**Author's end note: **What was that Smith? Did you just confess to liking Christine, in your own weird way? Tsk tsk.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **What's this? An update? Yeah sorry its been a while guys, I've been sort of trapped in an endless loop of procrastination and guilt. Besides how can I possibly top them getting stuck in an elevator together. Oh world, there is a great need for a sarcasm font.

**Warning: **Pre-movies OOCness for Persophone and the Merovingian.

**Disclaimer: **Say we do see a movie like this, then you know they owe me money not the other way around. 'kay?

Hollow

"What do you mean 'vanished'?" Smith hissed into his earpiece.

Across the Matrix agents were getting the same message from the Source: The Keymaker had vanished. Details were currently unknown, but the Keymaker, a program designed to provide access to programing hallways, had been called to the Source for updates, but had never shown up. Agents had been sent to pick him up, but found no traces of him.

Vanished.

Smith turned to the other two agents Jones and Brown. "See what you can make of this, I'll take care of Christine."

Smith, Jones, and Brown were assigned once again to pick up Christine Edwards for the hacking project, but this time, rather than wait for her to come out of school, they were ordered to pull her out of class. Jones and Brown nodded and Smith turned away, heading into the school. He wasn't sure where she would be at this time of day, and he didn't want to just barge in, so he went to the front desk to ask.

The plump woman at the counter wasn't helpful. She wanted to know who he was, what his business was, how he was related to Christine Edwards, and 'classified' was not a satisfying answer. Thankfully, another thinner woman, the assistant principal or something along those lines, happened to enter. She was a program, one designed to keep the other programs at this school in line, she recognized Smith for what he was and was able to get him what he wanted. She turned on her computer and pulled up Christine's schedual.

"Well Agent Smith, Christine isn't in class at this time, she at a lunch break." She told him, "Should I page he over the intercom?"

"No." Smith declined the offer, "I do not want to risk her being led to believe that she is in any kind of trouble. I will go get her myself."

"Shall I arrange an escort? I can call security for you." She offered. Once again Smith declined, intend on getting Christine himself, but the program stood from her desk and followed him out the door. "I'll come with you." She said, brushing a hair behind her ear.

"Not necessary." Smith told her, finding himself moving a little faster than his normal pace, the other program got further and further behind him, burdened by her high heels and tight skirt, until at last she gave a defeated sigh and left him.

It didn't take Smith long to find the cafeteria. He admitted he didn't have any idea how to find Christine among the crowds of adolescent humans that had gathered in this area, more to socialize than to actually refuel themselves, judging by the amount of untouched pizza on the plates. Smith scanned the room, searching for his particular adolescent human. He skimmed over Christine twice without realizing it before he finally spotted her. To be fair to Smith, it wasn't his fault he didn't recognize her, her hair was out of its usual ponytail, her sweatshirt was laying across her lap, and her friend Cynthia was applying make-up to her face. Smith raised an eyebrow as he approached, wondering why Christine would allow her friend to do such a thing to her, but then noticed the balloon tied to Christine's arm that read "Happy Birthday."

The human celebrations marking the anniversary of the day they were born, puzzled Agents who had no such day themselves. Why would humans, with a limited life span, choose to count down their years? Smith's own longevity was entirely depended on his performance continued use to the system, but humans like Christine could die any day. Why remind themselves that they had one less year to live?

Christine's eyes were closed for the application of 'eyeshadow' thus she did not know of his presence, but Cynthia noticed Smith's appearance, and got a, mischievous glint in her eye. "Oh Christine, let me finish this, you won't believe who's here!" She giggled.

"If its Tony, I already told you I don't care." Christine said while the other girls (six in all) all turned to look, some of them giggling like Cynthia, others whispering to each other, the only word Smith made out was 'hansom'.

"No, not Tony." Cynthia told her, "Okay, open your eyes and turn around."

She did. Christine's eyes widened at the sight of him, and her face was red, though that could have easily been some of the make up Cynthia had put on her. "S-smith! W-what are you d-doing here!" She stammered.

"Looks like he dropped in for your birthday!" One of the other girls teased.

"Actually no." Smith admitted, while Christine elbowed the other girl to silence her, creating a giggle fit that went around the table, "I am here on other business, I assure you, my presence during your birthday is purely coincidental." He beckoned Christine to him not wanting her friends to over hear him as soon as she reached his side he leaned into her ear and whispered "The Agency wants to pick the final hacker for this project and a final test is being arranged. I have been given permission to pull you out of class, are you prepared?"

Christine glanced back at her friends "I guess what kind of test is it?" She asked.

"I said its being arranged. I know no further details at this time." Smith answered, "Get your things and get let's go."

"What do I tell them?" Christine nodded to her friends.

Smith shrugged. "Figure something out." he instructed, Christine nodded and went back to the table, grabbing her sweatshirt and backpack, and coming up with an excuse to leave in the middle of lunch. Her friends all giggled and teased her, and Christine came back to Smith, definitely blushing this time. Smith glanced back at her friends as he escorted Christine out. They all stared at them whispering and giggling.

_Humans_. He thought without amusement.

They stayed silent on the way to his car, Smith kept glancing at Christine. Something about her seemed vastly different. Without the ponytail her hair looked longer, and the make up made her look more grown up. Likewise, her usual sweatshirt was now being carried, tucked over her arm making her appear thinner and taller. The shirt she was wearing underneath was a simply white tank top that fit nicely around her body and emphasized certain curves that the dark over shirt usually hid. The changes were superficial, and Smith knew that nothing about her had actually changed,but still being close to her was a little unnerving after their little adventure and a half in the elevator. He found himself wondering if males of her species found her attractive.

He shook his head to clear the thought away when he got in his car, it was unimportant. Though as Smith exited the parking lot of the school, a mild curiosity forced him to speak. "Why were your friends all staring at us like that?" he asked.

On the passangers side Christine made an uncomfortable noise. "Because they think you're my boyfriend."

For the first time since they'd met, Christine thought Smith looked genuinely surprised. "W-what gave them that impression?" Smith asked, sounding just as caught off guard as he looked, despite his attempts to hide it. Within mere seconds he was as emotionless as a stone again, but Christine couldn't help but savor the moment she'd witnessed him looking almost human.

"You can blame Cynthia for that. Apparently, me not being able to tell her who you are and where you keep taking me, means that we're in a twisted love affair. I suppose its a good cover at least."

Oh, there went his lips, curving down in blatant discomfort while he fought not to drive off the road. "I suppose as well." He agreed at last, "Your friend is beginning to sound much like Dr. Long, perhaps we should arrange a meeting between them."

"Dr. Who?" Christine asked.

"Long. You don't remember? The first time I brought you...Never mind." They were nearing the part of the city where the agent headquarters were, but at a certain intersection caught Smith's attention, and building that was just down the road. "We're going to make a slight detour. Do you mind?"

"What?" Smith turned onto the road, and pulled up to the building that had caught his attention, "Smith what are we doing here?" Christine asked.

The building was a fancy restaurant, known for good food, but high prices, its owners, were known for different things depending on who was being asked. 'Just a hunch." Smith answered as he got out of the car.

"Should I stay here?"

"No, I'd rather you stick with me." Smith answered honestly. With these people one could never be too careful.

"What are we doing here?" Christine asked a second time.

With nothing better to do, Smith answered, "Just before I came to get you the Agency received a tip that a man of some importance had...Vanished." He opened the door for Christine.

"And you think someone here might be able to help?" Christine guessed.

"I think someone here might be responsible." He replied, "Stay close."

"Agent Smith! What a pleasant surprise!" A woman's voice called out, making them both turn to see a tall beautiful woman heading their way.

Christine had been feeling a confidence boost since Cynthia had done her hair and make up, and even convinced her to take off her sweatshirt. For the first time in quiet a while, Christine actually felt pretty, and she been hoping the whole time in the car, that Smith thought the color in her cheeks really was just an effect of the make up. She didn't need him knowing that she was beginning to think of him with a little more affection than she should.

Enter this woman; and reality dropped back into place, shattering the euphoric feelings of being pretty. Here was what beauty looked like, a woman who didn't hide her appearance behind baggy clothes, or tie her hair back to look ordinary. This woman was a natural, beauty walked with her, from her sweet face, her red-painted lips, to her confident strides and delicate heels. She smiled brightly as she approached Smith and kissed him once on each cheek.

The only comfort Christine had in this encounter was that Smith did not look nearly as happy to see this woman as she did to see him.

"Persephone, was it?" He asked, the woman nodded with her pearly white teeth flashing, "I wouldn't have expected to see you here. What business do you have with the Merovingian?"

The woman, Persephone, gave a shrill beautiful laugh and held up her hand, showing off a shining diamond ring that was as beautiful as she was. "I believe now I should ask what business you have with my _husband?_" She asked teasingly.

Smith's eyebrow raised with mild curiosity, "You're married? How long?"

"Ah...two years now." Persephone sighed dreamily, her accent did nothing to decrease her attractiveness, "Now what business do you have with my _beloved?"_

She kept emphasizing words like that, as if in an attempt to make him jealous, though Smith seemed unfazed. "Just a few questions." Smith answered, but he looked at Christine.

The look didn't escape Persephone's attention. "What have we here? Ah, since when do agents take birthday girls out for treats?"

"Th-that's not..." Christine tugged the balloon off her wrist, "That's not why we're here." She said.

"Ah, but here at _Le Vrai_everyone gets a free piece of cake on their birthday. Come, I'll get you a slice while Smith talks to my dear husband." She turned around and walked briskly away, expecting them to follow, which they did, but at a distance, clearly neither of them were comfortable with her.

"Old girlfriend?" Christine asked in a low voice.

"Of a colleague's, yes." Smith answered uneasily, "But I was briefly involved with a friend of hers." The topic was clearly something he wasn't proud of so Christine let it drop.

The full story, as Smith recalled, began with an experiment proposed by the Oracle. The program had helped design this version of the Matrix, by convincing the Architect to embed the power of choice within the coding of the Matrix. While not perfect, it was still the most functioning version of the Matrix to date. So when the Oracle proposed another idea, the Architect found no reason to argue.

The proposal: To make the Agent appear more human by giving them families.

Because it was only an experiment, Agents were allowed to volunteer for what was dubbed 'the Venus project.' Curiosity, as it always had, led Smith to his decision to sign up for the project. Venus Programs, like the woman named Persephone, were named after Greek and Roman deities, and created to be the female halves of the Agents that volunteered, if things went well, the pair would also create children together, thus giving the family image that was intended.

Project Venus was a disaster that rivaled the failure of the first Matrix.

Most Agents, like Smith, simply never took to the project. His partner, a woman named Hestia, had been too needy, desperate for his attention, and had a knack for getting herself in danger. At the end when the project was shut down, the Venus programs were ordered to the Source for deletion as they served no other purpose in the Matrix, Hestia revealed she had sought comfort from other programs aside from Smith when he refused to give her the attention she was always nagging him for. Smith felt nothing when she was deleted, and he felt nothing when he thought back about her, on the rare occasion that he did. Hestia was no one special.

On the other had there had been Agents who took to the project _too_ well, and refused to do their jobs in order to spend time with their wives. Those few agents were devastated when the project was shut down, and at risk to their own lives, smuggled the Venus programs away from the Source hiding them within the Matrix. Love, the Architect had concluded, was a chemical reaction in the brain required by two individuals that could not be stimulated by artificial methods

It occurred to Smith that he had been looking at Christine throughout this thought process and averted his gaze when Christine glanced his way.

Ahead of them, Persephone rattled on about the restaurant "My love bought this place after we were married, we've run it together little by little making it into one of the finest restaurants in the whole town. We've been talking lately of buying a bigger place. Perhaps one with a view! Ah! Here we are, wait here I will get my husband and the cake!"

Smith and Christine were left in a waiting area with a small collection of books, Christine had just picked up one when Persephone returned with her husband and, as promised, a piece of cake free of charge for the birthday girl. "She'll have to wait here." Persephone's husband said, "I'm afraid we don't allow minors in the one place in this restaurant where you and I can speak Agent Smith."

Smith "Will you be alright on your own for a few minutes?"

Christine nodded, "Sure, I have cake." She said with her sarcasm only half veiled.

"I could have a guard posted over here to make sure no one takes off with her." Persephone offered as the three adults headed toward other end of the restaurant, if Smith replied, Christine couldn't hear him. Alone Christine nibbled at her cake halfheartedly. It was delicious, but she wasn't in the mood for it anymore. There was a mirror and a small sink in the waiting room which Christine caught her reflection in. She felt so fake with her hair down and her face hidden in make up. Who was she kidding? This wasn't who she was.

Christine approached the sink and splashed her face, washing the make up off. With it a sense of relief flowed over her and the next time she looked in the mirror she began to recognize herself for who she really was. _No more pretending_. She promised.

Meanwhile the Merovingian and Persephone led Smith to the back, away from human ears and the three of them sat in comfortable chairs around a small table. "What is it that you want?" The Merovingian asked with what Smith could tell was feinted politeness. He was an older program from one of the earlier versions of the Matrix that had evaded deletion, but as he was causing no direct harm to the Matrix, he was not on the Agency's priority list.

There was no use in playing games with this program, he was far too smart to be fool by silly tricks so Smith got straight to the point. "Word has not escaped the Agency of your self-given nickname." Smith folded his hands under his chin, an intimidating position, he'd been told. The Merovingian raised an eyebrow, another feigned gesture suggestion he was not sure of Smith's meaning. "The trafficker of information." He clarified.

The Merovingian gave an uneasy laugh, also fake. "Oh, my dear its seems we are found out." He said placing a hand below the table, probably on Persephone's thigh to reassure her as the woman seemed to be uneasy. "What business may I help you with?"

"There's been a recent...incident." Smith's gaze drifted from the Merovingian to Persephone, under his sunglasses the motion was all but invisible, "The Keymaker failed to report for his latest updates. Would you, the trafficker of information, know anything of this?"

The Merovingian was unfazed by the question, but it was not him Smith wanted an answer from. "Ah...No...I think that is the first I have ever heard of such a thing...When did this happen?" The Merovingian said with a casual tone.

On the other hand, Persephone had raised a glass of wine to her lips. Upon hearing Smith's question she coughed quietly choking on her drink. She excused herself saying the wine was simply too sweet, but she cast a nervous glance at her husband that suggested guilt. If Persephone was involved then undoubtedly the Merovingian himself was as well.

"Are you quite sure that you know nothing?" Smith said, his voice lowering to a more threatening tone, "An investigation is already underway, and if it is discovered that you withheld information-"

Clearly the Merovingian noticed Persephone had given their guilt away as well, for he dropped his charade, "Even if you do find out we were involved, there is nothing you can threaten us with." The Merovingian promised, in a tone as dangerous as Smith's.

At this the Agent rose back to his feet, towering over both of them as they remained seated. "Do not boast." He warned, "I may not have anything to 'threaten you with', but there are other ways for the Source to get back what was stolen from it."

"If you can prove it was stolen to begin with." The Merovingian hissed.

Smith glowered and opened his mouth to respond, but Persephone stood, "Enough of this!" She cried and pointed a finger at the door. "Get your girl and get out!" She ordered.

She was brave, telling an Agent to leave business unfinished, or stupid. Regardless, Smith decided to humor her, merely nodding and turning back to her husband "This isn't over." he said.

"It is for now." The Merovingian mocked, his smirk was an unconscious confirmation of Smith's suspicion. He had the Keymaker, but unfortunately, he was also right, there was nothing that the Agency could do unless actual proof of his involvement was discovered in the investigation of the Keymaker's disappearance. Annoyed that in this case, he had been bested, Smith turned away, vowing that one day the Merovingian would pay dearly for this.

He made his way back to the room where they'd left Christine, thankfully she was still there. Also to Smith's surprising relief she had washed her face, tied her hair back and put her sweatshirt back on, the balloon had been released and floated out of reach on the ceiling. She'd barely touched her cake, and was instead reading from one of the books on the shelf. "Let's go." Smith

"Not as planned?" She asked setting the book down, it was a copy of Baudrillard's_ Simulacra and Simulation, _the page was open to a section on Nihilism, which made Smith raise an eyebrow but he didn't want to ask.

Instead they left. "I've been thinking about what Glitch said about having codenames." Christine said, clearly in a better mood than he was.

"And?" Smith asked as they crossed the parking lot toward his car.

Without warning Christine reached up and snatched his sunglasses off and slipped them on. "And I was thinking about how cool it must be to be an Agent. You have an awesome job, from the looks of that car it pays well, and your basic diet appears to be coffee and Jolly Ranchers." She teased.

Smith attempted to steal his sunglasses back, "There's more to it than that. I doubt you qualify." Christine evaded him laughing while adjusting his sunglasses on her nose.

"So I couldn't be Agent Edwards then?" She asked.

"You wouldn't be able to use your real name even if you did become an Agent." He told her making another grab for his glasses and once again she ducked under him. Oddly this wasn't annoying him.

"Oh. Then I suppose Smith isn't _your_ real name then?" she asked.

Smith nodded to the license plate on his car "IS 5416" he explained, "Isaiah 54:16: _Behold, I have created the_ Smith _that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy._"

Christine paused a moment to contemplate that, giving Smith the opportunity he needed to swipe his sunglasses back and place them securely back on his face. "That's clever." She said.

"I always thought so." Smith answered with a bit of pride as he slipped into his car.

"So how about Jones and Brown, where'd they get their names?" She asked getting into the front seat.

"Jones I haven't figured out." Smith replied, biting his tongue and making up answers on the the spot regretting allowing the conversation to steer in this direction. "But Brown I've always assumed was because he's full of shit."

Christine erupted into laughter, catching Smith off guard until he realized that what he had said did in fact have humor in it, and found the corners of his mouth turning up in the slightest of smiles. For a few moments Christine only laughed but it died down and she spoke up again.

"So how about Trinity then, for my code name?" She asked.

Smith contemplated it a moment. The reference to a trio and possibly the three aspects of god would indeed make her hard to identify as a single female person, and as a bonus the biblical reference gave them a probably unintended connection. "I believe that would make a good codename. Very clever."

"Agent Trinity..." She murmured.

"You're not an Agent.

**Author's end note: **Boy, I hope that the length of this chapter makes up for how long it took me to write it. Please remember to review thanks -Zae.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **This chapter is a little different as it takes place directly after the last one, rather than there being a time skip of anywhere between a couple days to a couple weeks. Enjoy.

**Warning: **Just another day at the office...

**Disclaimer: **I need sleep.

Hollow

"You're late." Dr. Long teased as Smith led Christine- no- she'd made it clear in the car that he was to call her 'Trinity' from now on, toward the back offices where she and the remaining candidates where to be instructed on their final test.

"Oh, I think I remember this guy now." Trinity muttered beside Smith, "I was blind-folded last time we met right?"

Dr. Long's left eyebrow raised in mild confusion and one could almost visibly see him mentally putting a blindfold on her. "Oh yes, this is your girlfriend isn't it? No kinky sex today?" He reached to touch her cheek.

Smith tensed but didn't react, it was always best to ignore Long, but Trinity disagreed. Today was her birthday, and she wasn't going to be teased. She punched him in the jaw, catching everyone off guard, even Smith. Though he wasn't _displeased_ at her course of action, Smith was forced to pull her behind him while Long stumbled back, crying out in surprise and pain.

"Hey!" Long looked at Smith pleadingly, the Agent's lip curved at one corner, and other witnesses merely laughed at the program. Obviously the dark haired girl wasn't going to get into any sort of trouble over this, she didn't work here after all.

"Don't ever touch me." Trinity warned cracking her knuckles, Long merely nodded and scooted away. Smith led her on, passed the room he had first brought her to, deeper in, where the candidates were gathering for their final assignment.

It was a small room, no bigger than the computer lab at Trinity's school with big wide windows that sunlight flooded through. Two Agents, Jacobs and Harris, and Debra Michaels were the only current occupants, clearly they'd been speaking to Mrs. Michaels and interrupted by Smith and Trinity's entrance. Debra already had a computer on and was busy typing away at it, hacking something that her body blocked. The other Agents offered Smith a brief nod, and gestured for Trinity to take a seat.

"You're late." Agent Jacobs repeated Dr. Long's accusation, he was a younger Agent, about the same apparent age as Agent Jones , "We started explaining without you."

"Where's Glitch?" Trinity asked, she seemed eager to share her new codename, her new identity.

"Oh please." Debra Michaels rolled her eyes, "You kids need to stop it with these silly codenames, you're as bad as the terrorists themselves!" Trinity seemed offended and opened her mouth to say something, but Smith silenced her with a glance.

"Regardless of your personal preferences on designations Mrs. Michaels," He said with a warning tone, "She has made a valid inquiry, Agent Harris, where is Miss. Irons?"

"There has been a problem locating her." The other Agent replied. He was, in physical appearance, the same age as Brown though he acted more independently, if only just.

"What do you mean 'a problem locating her'?" Smith demanded, glancing at Trinity who looked alarmed.

Agent Harris stepped closer to him, "We lost track of her a few weeks ago. After the death of Mr. Clemmens and Mr. Avery's drop out, we didn't want to alarm anyone by announcing it." He whispered the next part into Smith's ear, a gesture to hide his inhumanity and keep this quiet. "We think she might have been unplugged."

The news surprised Smith, he hadn't heard anything about it, and immediately he thought about Trinity and if she would be in danger. Agent Jacobs approached, forming a circle which made Smith slightly uncomfortable since they were not his partners. Jones and Brown were out investigating the disappearance of the Keymaker, as were Jacobs and Harris' partners, and the discomfort seemed mutual, but they had to keep the image of being human while in the presence of Mrs. Michaels and Trinity, forcing them to speak in a whispered huddle.

"Before she disappeared Miss Irons made mentions of a man she called 'Wyvern', whom we have identified as Justin Wright, a rebel who escaped three years ago and a former romantic attachment of Miss. Irons. We believe there may be a connection."

Smith nodded in understanding, human attachments were a curious thing, they provided much motive among their kind, two examples sat at computers, Mrs. Michaels already typing away while Trinity awaited her assignment. Christine Edwards, now 'Trinity' had admitted attachments to Smith and his partners and these attachments drove her to continue her relationships with them.

On the other hand, Debra Michaels also had powerful motivations. Her husband, wealthy business manager James Ethan Michaels, had been killed inadvertently by human rebels in some act of valor to unplug potential allies. A team of Agents had been able to persuade the newly widowed woman to help them track the terrorists responsible for her husband's death.

It was irrelevant for now, however, and Smith suggested they move forward. First Trinity needed to be given her assignment. Mrs. Michaels was already well ahead of her and Trinity was beginning to shift nervously.

Jacobs addressed her. "Miss. Edwards," He began, "Since you were selected for this trial you have been tested and trained. The time has come for you to show us what you can do. What we ask is simple. Hack into any computer you can manage without being caught, do whatever you wish, you will have all the time you need. Whichever of you, Mrs. Michaels or yourself, does the most impressive job, will be continue on with the assignment. The other will...sign agreements to never speak of what you have seen and heard during your time with us. Is that understood Miss. Edwards?"

She simply nodded and turned her back to them, facing the computer Trinity contemplated what she could do for her assignment. Minutes began ticking by and her heart began to race as she continued failing to come up with anything 'impressive' to do. She glanced over at Debra Michaels, perhaps if she could get a glimpse of what her opponent was doing Trinity could come up with something better. To her disappointment, Debra was playing solitaire.

Half an hour dragged by without incident. Smith occasionally looked over at the two hackers. Whatever Mrs. Michaels thought she was doing appeared to already be done, or mostly done as only a few times Smith caught her typing codes into her computer, not close enough to see what she was doing Smith ignored it. He was worried by the fact that Trinity had yet to start hacking _anything_, still trying to come up with something to do with her skills.

Then the first sign of trouble was sent to the three supervising Agents via their earpieces. Each of them lifted a hand to them, glancing at each other to be sure they all heard correctly. A helicopter of unknown origin was flying close to their building and refusing to give clearance. Not wanting to alarm the humans they waited with dead calmness for more information.

The helicopter landed, according to the source, without permission and from it several armed men jumped out. As the senior Agent, the responsibility of deciding what to do next fell to Smith. He shook his head, there was not enough information available to determine the thread level or whether of not they needed to get involved. He whispered an order into his earpiece meant for human security to deal with matter for now. It wasn't their problem.

Soon enough, however, it became their problem, when the team of humans were slaughtered on the roof top, and the group of unknowns descended down from ropes down to their level, and smashed through the widows.

Things started happening fast. The humans began firing a bunch of weapons, he heard Trinity and Mrs. Michaels scream. Agent Harris went down, at first Smith thought he'd been shot, but he was merely ducking low to stay out of the bullets range as he grabbed his own gun from his holster. Smith was quick to do the same, but his first and foremost instinct was to cover Trinity. She had taken only a moment to duck under the computer table, but that was not nearly enough protection.

"Who is _that?" _She shrieked as Smith pressed himself over her to shield her from shattering glass and ricocheting bullets.

"Terrorists!" Debra was screaming, though Smith didn't detect as much surprise in her voice as one would expect in such a situation. Her cry sounded almost forced "Terrorists!"

"Get out of here." Smith told Trinity calmly, he turned slightly to fire a few rounds at the attacking humans, his bullets did not miss their marks, two of six black clad that he counted went down. A third stumbled forward, brought down by Jacobs and Harris. "Now!" Smith said a little more urgently, "We'll cover you."

"Terrorists!" Debra shrieked again as she and Trinity made a break for the nearby door. She couldn't be more wrong though, these were not unplugged members of the human terrorist organization. By Smith's observation they were all still blissfully plugged in humans. Sensing the disturbance, two more Agents-Jones and Brown, to Smith's relief- appeared at the doorway.

Now reunited with his own partners Smith's comfort increased. He turned to ensure Trinity had gotten out safely. She was in the hall, peeking in fearfully, Smith opened his mouth to tell her to keep going, but was struck with a barrage of bullets. He could have easily dodged them had he been paying attention, but distracted by his own desire to ensure Trinity's safety he hadn't noticed a gun pointed at him. Smith went down, Trinity shrieked, Smith saw someone grab her. One of the attackers? No Debra Michaels pulling her further down the hall.

Good.

There was only two of the attacking humans left standing, as the host body he was currently using lost its life, Smith's consciousness flooded to inhabit one of their enemies while there were no other humans. A man froze, his partner hissed at him to keep firing. The first began to howl with surprise, pain and fear as his mind was taken over. His horror couldn't match that of his partner however, as the man's form changed to that of Smith's.

While the remaining man was frozen with shock at what he just witnessed, Smith snatched his gun. With fresh bullets from his transfer, and with inhuman speed, Smith raised it to eye-level with the final human and fired a single shot into his forehead.

Things were silent for several long seconds before Smith heard the sound of crying coming from the hall. Each Agent occupied himself with the study of one of the fallen humans, including Smith's previous host. Smith looked over the man he had just shot. These were not terrorists, nor were they actually trained to handle guns given the extensive damage to the walls, ceiling and floor, but utter failure to even aim at an Agent in a manner that would make it necessary for one to dodge their bullets. These we men hired to act like terrorists. But why?

Something wasn't adding up.

The crying in the hall got closer, and Smith distinctively heard Debra Michaels call out "Don't be foolish, the terrorists could still be there!"

"I dun care!" Trinity sobbed back, "I hafta see-" She appeared in the doorway and silenced when she saw Smith still standing. She then flung herself at him throwing her arms around his shoulders "Oh thank god!" She cried, "I thought... I thought I saw...!" Trinity couldn't manage a full sentence.

Smith felt her lips against his neck.

He also saw blood on her shoulder and pushed her off him gently. He nodded to her arm, the sleeve of her jacket was torn and blood covered spilled across bare skin. "What happened?" He asked.

Trinity glanced at her shoulder, and shrugged, though the act made her wince, "Just a scratch, probably from broken glass."

Human security came bustling up the hall demanding to know what happened. The Agents filled them in with as much details as they could, and an investigation was ordered. Trinity's shoulder was inspected, cleaned and bandaged. The two hackers were also ordered to be sent home to prevent further harm to them in case the 'terrorists' sent in a second wave. Smith doubted such a thing would happen, but insisted on taking Trinity back himself. Jones and Brown remained behind to help with the investigation.

Her school would have been out for and hour so Smith drove her all the way to her foster home. Trinity was silent the whole ride. Why wouldn't she be? She was probably terrified. Then Smith remembered something else, just as they pulled up to the house, she was just about to exit the car when Smith called her back.

"Christine." He called her by her real name and handed her his sunglasses. "Happy birthday."

It wasn't so much a gift in the way humans usually celebrated such events, but rather the gesture was mostly a continuation of the joke she had started earlier. But Trinity's eyes lit up and her entire demeanor changed once again, to something a little more relaxed.

"Thank you."

**Author's end note: **As I type it is now 1: 30 AM and I have to get up early soooo, we're quitting there for now and Ill be back with more when I can.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note: **ATTENTION! I am writing another fic called _City of Corruption _that stars one of my Ocs from the last chapter and this one. His name is Agent Harris and some detail from this fic will be better explained in that one if you are curious.**  
Warning: **Blah blah blah...**  
Disclaimer: **Yada yada yada...

Hollow

"That is impossible."

After three days of investigation, thoroughly looking at every detail, checking security footage, computer logs and other methods that humans did their work with, the team in charge of finding out who was responsible for the terrorist attack had drawn their conclusion.

"The evidence says otherwise _Agent_ Smith." Sneered the human in charge of security at the building. His name was Lewis Snyder and he was everything Smith hated about humans, obese, malodorous, indolent, imprudent, and for course convinced of his own superiority. "Based on what _we_ have uncovered about this little incident, Christine Edwards is responsible for the attack two days ago."

"_Three_ days ago." Smith corrected, "And that is impossible."

Snyder glared at him, "And why is that, hmm?" the chief of security asked, "Why is it impossible that this hacker _you_ hired, could be working for a terrorist organization?"

"We hired Miss Edwards to help track this terrorist organization." Smith argued.

"Oh! And that automatically means she can't be a double agent, right?" Snyder mocked.

"That would be impossible." Smith repeated.

"Why?"

Smith didn't have an answer. He was too sure Trinity couldn't be responsible, blindly so. In his mind there was no way Trinity could be guilty, despite the heavy evidence against her, yet he had no idea how to defend her innocence. Thankfully the other Agents did.

"When we first approached Miss Edwards she was unaware of the terrorist plot we are trying to counter with this project." Brown stated as if it were obvious.

Jones picked up immediately after him, "We investigated her background thoroughly before we hired her as well. She had no previous connections outside her foster family and a small circle of friends."

Following his partners lead, Smith was able to continue, "Further more, when we met Miss Edwards she was incapable of anything more than changing grades on her schools computers. Hardly worth the effort it would take the terrorists in question to recruit her."

"Nor, as we have already concluded, was the attack a few days ago truly the work of the terrorist organization we are tracking." Agent Harris, recognizable from the sound of gum chewing, added from where he stood with his partners Agent Chalmer, and Agent Roberts. They were going over the security report as well. From their shared demeanor, they too were not convinced of Snyder's conclusion. "These men were hired."

"And from what we know of Christine Edwards she does not have the resources to hire men to shoot at her." Agent Jacobs and his team also added.

"So what are you saying?" Snyder laughed, "That someone hired a bunch of guys to play dress up and blow up a building, just to frame a little girl for it?"

"That is what we are saying." Smith concluded from the evidence the Agents had brought forward.

"Why?"

Smith added the facts up in seconds. Computer logs suggested that a signal had been traced from Trinity's computer to a wireless radio that had informed the 'terrorists' of their location and signaled an assault. Yet he had been watching her, Trinity had never sent out any messages, nor would she have had the motive to. But someone else had.

Debra Michaels, had been seen hacking codes into her computer, she could have easily been signaling a group of hired men (which Smith pointed out Debra Michaels did in fact have the resources to hire) and used her own hacking skills to hide her footprints and make it look as if her competitor for the job had done it.

Clever.

"So you want me to go arrest one of the most powerful women in the city just so that your little girlfriend can get a get out of jail free card?" Snyder replied.

Smith tensed hearing Trinity referred to as his girlfriend. Dr. Long's assumption of his relation ship with the girl had started several rumors that now appeared to be spreading. Something would need to be done about that eventually. "What we want you to do," Smith said calmly "Is spend more time on this investigation, and not stop at the first and easiest answer you find."

"Or perhaps we should take over." Brown suggested.

Snyder straightened angrily "You can't do that!" He hissed.

"Unfortunately for your job Mr. Snyder," Jones said with utter seriousness, "We can, so you can either investigate Mrs. Michaels in search of any connection to the attack that happened here the other day, or can search for another job."

Snyder's face turned an unappealing color of purple, but he said nothing else as he turned back to his computer, presumably to e-mail the other humans involved in the investigation. The Agents slowly moved out of the room. The Architect had issued a meeting also having to do with the attack. Odds were that the Agents could gather the necessary information to warrant Debra Michaels's arrest before Lewis Snyder could even get his team together.

Since that was most likely true, Smith felt there was something he needed to do first.

Out of site of human witnesses, or his fellow Agents, Smith left his host, merging his conscious with that of a one of Trinity's neighbors, who was doing yard work. The foster house she currently resided in was a few houses away, Smith was there within minutes knocking at the door.

There was no reason for him to do this, but he felt Trinity deserved to know what was happening. It was Saturday so she should be at home, and if she wasn't he could come back later. As a forethought, Smith removed his earpiece so that he wouldn't be distracted while he spoke to Trinity. An elderly woman with silver hair tied in a french braid, and the square face of a woman who was either losing weight or gaining it, opened the door, "Hello?" She asked.

"Diane Kettner?" The woman nodded, "I am Agent Smith, I am looking for Christine Edwards, is she home?"

"Is she in trouble?" Diane asked.

He didn't answer right away, technically she was in trouble but he believed wrongly so. He was spared an explanation when his name was called from inside the house. Trinity pushed her foster mother aside slightly. Her cheeks were red, she had the sunglasses he's given her propped on her forehead, and her ruined sweatshirt had not been replaced, so she was wearing a simple gray t-shirt.

"What are you doing here?" Diane protested Christine getting any closer to the stranger at the door, "It's okay he's my friend."

Diane looked at Smith suspiciously, but Trinity continued to push her way forward.

"There's something we need to talk about." Smith replied, he then nodded to Diane Kettner, "Privately if possible, ma'am."

Diane didn't seem convinced she could trust the man in the suit, but Trinity assured her that he meant no harm, "He works at my school." She lied, quite convincingly about a bully problem and Smith was acting as a counselor.

"This will only take a few moments." Smith added, playing along with the bully story, and soon enough Trinity's foster mother shut the door to let them talk.

"Smith-" Trinity started, but he silenced her by raising his hand.

"As you have probably guessed this is about what happened the last time you were with us." At her nod he continued. "The initial investigation has concluded that someone hired those men to attack our building. They are not part of the terrorist group you are being asked to help track, but merely made to look like them, reasons for this ploy are still being debated."

"But...?" Trinity waited for him to continue, when Smith didn't she asked, "You said the initial investigation. That means you're looking over it again...Why?"

Smith sighed and took off his sunglasses. "Because computer records indicate that it was a signal from _your_ computer that triggered the attack. As of right now you are under suspicion of terrorism."

Trinity blinked at him as if she expected him to tell her he was only joking. When Smith did no such thing her face started to pale and her shoulders started to shake, "I d-didn't do anything!" She pleaded, her voice wavered as if she might burst into tears. Whether those tears would be from fear, or outrage Smith could not tell, but he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I know." He said, "Our Agency is doing our own investigation, you have been ruled out as a suspect under our people but it will take some time to convince other authorities. Until then you will likely be put under surveillance."

"They'll be watching me!?" Trinity exclaimed.

Smith's mouth twitched, "I actually doubt they will, but do try to stay out of trouble until this is resolved."

"What about that hacking assignment?" she asked.

Smith didn't answer. "I don't know. All parties involved with this investigation have been briefed on the matter and know you have been given it, but with this mess I don't think its safe for you to be doing anything right now."

Trinity had started to calm, or at least not panic. She was silent for several minutes. "Do you know who was responsible?" She asked quietly, but Smith heard suspicion in her tone. Trinity was smart, she was already starting to piece together the same conclusion he had.

"Officially no." The Agent answered honestly, putting his sunglasses back on. "But Debra Michaels is under _our _surveillance_._ Unfortunately due to her high social status we will need more time to prove she was involved than it will take to prove you were not."

Trinity's eyes dropped to the ground, she nodded but didn't say anything. The young woman was still shaking, though this time Smith observed involuntary muscle moments and facial twitches that indicated the sensation was caused by rage. "Try to stay out of trouble Trinity. I have to get back to work."

Trinity nodded again but did not look up. Smith reached for her head and tapped the sunglasses she wore on to her face so they rested crookedly on her nose, forcing her to look up in order to adjust them. Smith smiled at her, as genuine as he could muster, to try to reassure Trinity that she would be alright before he turned around and started his walk back down the street.

Trinity watched him go, but turned away back into the house. Feeling numb she ignored Diane, and headed to her room and sat at her desk, staring at her computer for a long time before she turned it on and angrily began hitting the keyboard with codes and programming.

_ Stay out of trouble_

"Fuck that!" Trinity muttered, "You guys wanna see what I can do, I'll show you what I can do!"

**Author's end note: **I need to start going to bed at decent hours, so, yeah, leaving it off there. Thanks for reading, I'll be back again as soon as I can with the next chapter. Please remember to review!


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **Fall semester has started at my college and so just as a heads up I may not get to work on this as often as I would like (not that I update weekly or anything) because I am taking classes that require a lot out outside of class work. So enjoy this chapter because I don't know what my free time will be doing.

**Warning: **Remember when Neo meets Trinity and he's amazed that she's this pretty legendary hacker? Good. And remember how this fanfic is categorized as a romance? Excellent.

**Disclaimer: **All character names you recognize from _The Matrix _are (C) of the Wachowskis. If you recognize character names because I have used them previously, those guys are mine. If you recognize a name from anywhere else it is coincidence. IRS stands for "It's Really Satan."

Hollow

Trinity was at if for almost a week before all Hell broke loose.

Hacking the IRS database was not easy, she needed to be at her computer for hours at a time just to get through the layers of security code, and hide her footprints when she managed to sneak past. Trinity did not leave her room all of Saturday after Smith left, most of Sunday, and even skipped school on Monday as she hacked her way through tax information.

The rest of the week Trinity _did_ go to school, but excused herself from her friends to go straight home, back to her room, and right back to hacking. Wednesday afternoon, the story of how Debra Michaels had apparently been cheating the IRS for years was all over the news. Trinity couldn't help but smile when ever she heard that, and knew she could not stop there.

Oh no.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

There were plenty of people that the young woman born Christine Edwards had personal vendettas against. Guidance counselors that screwed her over, foster families that abused her, even a few teachers both at her current school and those she'd been to in the past. Companies and charity organizations, sports teams, business tycoons, and politicians Trinity believed were out of line. She laid siege to them through the power of apparent tax fraud. By Friday it was officially announced that the IRS had been hacked and it could be a while before the mess was sorted out and those guilty or guiltless of fraud could be revealed.

In the meantime, the internet was buzzing with computer geeks and hackers who had gotten her coded message claiming responsibility under the alias Trinity. Her assault had come in three waves, the promise/threat, the actual hacking, and the confession. Most people seemed to assume that 'Trinity' was a group of three people. Trinity found internet news, forums and chat-rooms dedicated to the controversy of the Hacker Trio, some praising their guts, other calling them crazy morons, but all of them agreeing that it was an incredible feat. Saturday, the name Trinity was linked to the IRS hacking, sparking whispers not just on the internet but in her school and on the street.

_Stay out of trouble._

Somehow Trinity could see Smith shaking his head in exasperation and veiled amusement.

She was far too smug for her own good. Trinity was at her computer on the following Sunday evening, once again hacking into the IRS, she wasn't sure what she would do today, but that was part of the excitement. She had just by-past the firewalls to get to work on today's shenanigans (Oh how she suddenly loved that word), when the door to her room opened.

And the Old Man stepped in.

It took him all but six seconds to see what she was doing, remember the stories that had been on the news all week, realize she was the one responsible...And yell so loud his face turned red in the last of those six seconds. Trinity was just able to bolt out of her chair when he charged at her "YOU LITTLE BITCH! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU'VE CAUSED!"

Trinity made a break for the door, she was faster than him, but he was closer to the only exit, and much bigger than her. He grabbed her arm with enough force she was afraid it might pop out of its socket, and yanked her around to meet his angry crimson face.

She screamed.

–

It hadn't taken the Agents half a day after hearing the first word of an IRS hacking to understand exactly who was responsible. The 'suspicion' they had was confirmed by cracking a coded message that left the signature "Trinity" behind. Smith had an irritated, but not unamused reaction to this.

That same Sunday, the Agents were called for final discussion on the decision of which candidate would take the job to help them capture Morpheus. Though it hardly seemed any debate was needed given how much attention the IRS hacking was getting.

"Humans just don't know how to listen." Jones said, perfectly aware of Smith's warning to the girl.

"Or perhaps they just enjoy defiance." Brown offered.

"I suspect both." Smith added. "Especially at Trinity's age, adolescent humans are particularly troublesome."

The Architect dipped his head in agreement, "Chemicals in the human cerebral cortex allow for rapid development of Egocentrism, adolescent humans such as Christine Edwards are more likely to make rash and high-risk decisions, particularly when attempting to impress their piers of potential mates, whereas a human who has already fully developed such as Mrs. Michaels, tend to be more conservative and aware of the consequences of their actions."

"So there is no debate now." Agent Chalmer concluded, "Miss Edwards has won the job through he demonstration of boldness and commitment-"

"-I disagree." Agent Harris countered, all eyes turned to him, and he reworded himself, "I agree with the conclusion, Miss Edwards should is most definitely the better candidate, but I disagree with your reasoning. Her decision to hack the IRS was not a demonstration of boldness. As the Architect implied it was an attempt to impress someone."

"Us, obviously." Jones said, "That was what the assignment was."

"I do no believe so." Harris continued, "True that the assignment called for it, but I believe there was more to this. Perhaps she subconsciously making an effort to fit in more with the hacker culture by leaving a mark so big none of her potential piers could ignore her existence, thus allowing easier acceptance when she joined. Or..." He trailed off, his mind clearly else where for a moment.

"Or what?" Smith asked.

"Or perhaps she was trying to impress a specific individual, a possible romantic interest. Humans of all ages tend to be more audacious when they want to attract someone's attention. You see it in grade-school children with teasing, sports in higher grades, and collection of skills in adulthood." Harris explained, he then folded his hands under his chin with his elbows on the table in a posture Smith often took himself, "Of course her reasoning has no impact on Miss Edwards' results, regardless of why she chose such a bold target she still is our finalist."

It occurred to Smith that he had tensed while the topic of Trinity trying impress someone was being discussed, and forced himself to relax when the Architect spoke. "Very well, is there anyone who believes that Mrs. Michaels deserves more consideration?" He was answered with silence. "Then the decision is made. The Agent who is most familiar with Miss Edwards may be excused to give her the news. The rest of you I want to continue with the investigation of the man known as Frank Larson, we need more information..."

As the Agent most familiar with Trinity, Smith was the one who rose from the table and left the room while the Architect continued to speak to the others. Since it was the weekend, Trinity was presumably still at her foster home. There was no urgency to meet Trinity and tell her she had been chosen, so Smith took the elevator down to the parking garage to get his car and drive over, rather than merely switching hosts as he had the last time he had visited.

The sun was low and the sky was dark with rain-heavy clouds, the last of the Spring-storms weather men where saying, and Smith hit almost exclusively red lights, and was sure this was somehow Henry Long's (the program responsible for traffic signals) attempt to antagonize him for being an Agent and friend of the girl who had humiliated him recently. Smith refused to let it have any effect on his mood. Still it took a ridiculous amount of time to reach the house Trinity currently took residence in. Smith parked his car in the gravel in front of the house, not bothering to lock it since he would only be here a few minutes.

When Smith knocked on the door he expected for Diane Kettner to answer as she had the last time, instead a man opened the door, presumably her husband Markus Kettner. He had sandy blond hair that was turning silver at the edges, and thinning at the top, he had more wrinkles than his wife but a full beard and mustache. He was a big man, with wide shoulders and a not un-slim waist, the body of a military man that had seen better days but had not quite let himself go yet. He was dressed in a white t-shirt that had a brown stain not quite in the middle of his chest that could have been from coffee, tea, or beer, and blue jeans that were ripped at the knees.

There were two things Smith noticed immediately about the man: first the color of his face and its expression (narrowed eyes, furrowed eyebrows, and lips that were turn down in a large frown) which indicated the man was in a rage. Drunk? Possibly, from the beer bottle in his hand, which might also explain the stain on his shirt.

The second thing Smith noticed was that Markus's lip was split, bleeding and starting to swell from what was obviously a well aimed punch to his mouth. Blood smudged his chin lightly from where he'd been wiping away at it. Inside Smith could hear the sound of weeping, the voice was distinctively feminine, but far to mature for Trinity. "Who the Hell are you?" Markus asked.

"Smith." He answered vaguely, "I am looking for your foster daughter, is she here?"

The sound weeping became a wail, and Markus immediately turned with a loud roar for her to shut up before looking back to Smith, "Fuck no! The little tramp took off two hours ago, good riddance I hope she never comes back!" He touched his lip, indicating either on purpose or subconsciously that Trinity was the one responsible for his injury.

That was worrisome. "What happened?" Smith demanded.

"You been listening to the news?" Markus asked, but didn't wait for a reply, "All that shit about the IRS hacking, fuck, believe it or not, that little bitch we've been babysitting is the one behind it."

"We're not babysitting her!" Diane shrieked coming up behind her husband with eyes red from crying, and cradling her arm as if it were hurt, perhaps it was. "We were supposed to be a family!" She cried.

Markus struck her with his back hand, knocking the woman to the floor where she immediately began bawling "Shut your mouth woman!" He bellowed.

Disgusting.

Smith could not believe the way humans treated one another, it was a big part of his hatred of them. How can humans believe in things like love and goodness when relationships like these were as common as they were. Smith was beginning to understand what had happened, somehow Markus had discovered Trinity's guilt at the IRS hacking and had tried to discipline her for it, based on what Smith had just witness, probably with physical abuse. Trinity defended herself and managed to escape. But to where?

"Do you know where she went?" He asked.

"Fuck no!" Markus repeated taking a swig from his beer, "If you're lookin' for her and you find her, you best throw her ungrateful ass in the deepest darkest dungeon you can find!"

Smith probably should have kept his mouth shut, but he couldn't help himself, "That is out of the question! The only one who belongs in a dungeon here is you, Mr. Kettner." His voice remained utterly calm, despite the venom that laced his words.

Markus's already red face, turned a shade darker and he lifted his free hand to strike at Smith. To the human, he probably thought he was moving fast, but for Smith assault attempt was almost painfully slow. It took no effort at all to avoid the fist being thrown at his face, to catch the wrist that was attached, and to snap the arm it belonged to.

It took Markus a full second to register that he was suddenly the victim and cried out in pain and surprise when Smith's fist collided with his already injured mouth. There was a distinct cracking sound when the force of the blow broke the man's jaw and knocked him onto the floor with his still sobbing wife.

No one ever attacked an Agent, and if they even dared, it was not a mistake they were going to make twice.

Mrs. Kettner screamed in astonishment, but not fear, and scooted as far away from her husband as she could manage. Smith hoped she had the sense to run like Trinity had, but did not stick around to see what happened next. Back in his car he relayed what he had just discovered back to the Source; Trinity was gone and no one knew where she was. He didn't even need to be told his new orders, it was the only thing on his mind.

_Find her._

Smith did not get anxious and start a desperate search, he was an Agent, he kept an inhuman calm, focusing on the logical routes and destinations Trinity would have in mind, rather than panic thinking about how he didn't know where to start. Think: Trinity's foster home was where she was supposed to be safe, that was not the case, where would she seek a haven after that?

The immediate places he thought of were the school and at a friend's house. It was the weekend, the school would be virtually empty, and most likely locked, and even if there were people there, they would not be the kind of people Trinity would turn to for help. So she would have tried to reach one of her friends.

Smith knew that Trinity had a small group of friends, and had briefly met a few of them. With and understanding of Trinity's personality, her social awkwardness, he could easily narrow down which of her friends Trinity would be most likely to run to if she were in trouble.

Cynthia Berg lived in a housing district across town, if Trinity was not there Smith did not want to waste the time it would take to drive there and back to resume his search. He kept one hand on the wheel of his car, but put the other to his earpiece, "I need to call a civilian family. The Bergs, Trinity may be at their residence." He said. The little device was used, not only to connect the Agents to the Source, and to allow Agents contact with each other, but it was also used, not as frequently, as means of communication with humans.

The line was silent for several rings when finally a young woman answered, "Hello, Berg residence, this is Cynthia."

What luck that the human who answered was the one he needed to speak to, "Hello, I am Agent Smith, a friend of Christine Edwards, I believe we've met before." He introduced himself, as Smith recalled this was the girl that thought he was Christine's lover.

"Oh hey! Yeah I remember seeing you, how did you get this number?"

"That is not important." Smith said, "I am looking for Trin- Christine, is she at your house?"

"Christine? No, I called her to see if she wanted to come over this morning but she said she wasn't feeling well, she's probably at home. You have her phone number right?"

"She is not at home." Smith told her.

"She isn't?" Cynthia sounded concerned, "Was she fighting with her foster father again? I knew it was only a matter of time before she ran away. I told her she could stay with us if she ever did, but she hasn't called-"

"-Do you know anywhere else she would go?"

"Um, no. Why do you need to fin-"

Smith discontinued the call without letting the young woman finish, there was no time to converse with her if Trinity was not there. Not at her friend's...What next? Think. There was only so far she could go in two hours.

"Damnit Trinity, where are you?" Smith muttered to himself.

His last resort was to contact the Source, use eyes across the Matrix to locate her, it would be faster and easier, but harder to explain when he did find her. Typically the Source was constantly watching for human rebels or exiles so that Agents could be aware of any activity instantly, and was rarely used for any other reason. Luckily Trinity's avatar code was easily located, she had left the residential area and was in the city.

Smith turned onto the closest road, the fist spit of rain left a mist on the windshield of his car, but it was only a few minutes before the droplets became thicker and fell more heavily. He had to turn the wipers on just to be able to see the road in front of him. He closed in on Trinity, she had escaped into one of the less occupied parts of town, but one that was considered to be pretty high in activity for exiles, a quick scan revealed that none were causing any trouble at the moment. At last Smith could see her on the street.

She still didn't have a new hoodie, instead she was wearing a denim jacket with her backpack held over her head in attempt to keep dry. Smith pulled over, parking his car in front of a building with a big FOR LEASE sign across it's door. By the time Smith was out of his car Trinity was turning into an alley way half a block from him.

"Trinity!" He called, but the sound of the rain and wind ripped his voice away. Rain drops made it impossible to see through his sunglasses and he had to take them off, before he set of after the girl. He kept a quick pace, but not quite a run, he reached the ally to find it a dead end with Trinity no where in sight. Clearly she could not have disappeared, Smith examined the alley, the rain thinned a little, making it easier to see.

There was a pile of large boxes, a dumpster, and several trash cans. The dumpster was locked, she couldn't have opened it to hide from the rain inside, no would there have been room for her in the cars. That left only one place for her to be hiding. Smith approached the boxes, before he was even in full view of the opening, Smith could see the edges of her backpack. "Trinity." He called again, softer now that he was closer, and the rain was not as heavy.

She didn't say anything, but did crawl out of the box she was using for shelter. Her backpack, though completely soaked, had not done much to keep her dry, and but her face wet with more than rain. Her cheeks were red from crying, and she had a huge bruise forming at her eye, no doubt her foster father had struck her, and Trinity had punched back in order to get away. She looked more angry than frightened, "I'm not going back to that place!" she said definitiveness that made Smith certain that she wouldn't go even if it was his intention to haul her back to her foster home..

"No you are not." Smith agreed. He had seen how Markus Kettner treated his 'family' and if there was one thing that Smith was _not_ going to allow it would be for any further harm to this young woman. He offered her his hand, "Come on. You are going to stay with me for a while."

Given the current circumstance, he doubted anyone within the Agency would object to this decision. They needed Trinity for the infiltration project, she was in danger from the foster family she was currently with and it would be simply less of a hassle for her to stay with the Agents rather than try to hunt down a suitable family. The only immediate problem was the Agents did not have homes in the way that humans and other programs did, they would need to make specific arrangements for her.

Trinity took his hand, her fingers were so cold that Smith's were warm in comparison. Smith started to lead her away, but then Trinity did something the Agent did not expect and was unprepared for. She hooked her arms around his neck, standing on her toes to do so, and pulled him down so that his lips pressed against hers.

A sort of shock went through Smith. He'd never had any interest in romantic ties after the failure of the Venus project and the deletion of his partner Hestia. He hadn't kissed a woman, or even took any notice of them since. Yet he found himself responding to the kiss Trinity was giving him. She was still only a child by the standards of the modern age that the Matrix represented, and that was reflected in the childish manner of the kiss, probably her first. Smith had no idea why he was responding, he didn't even like humans, and this...this just was beyond his ability to understand. The only explanation came in the form of something the Architect had once said after the Venus project was shut down.

_Love is a chemical reaction in the brain required by two individuals that can not be stimulated by artificial methods._

The Source sang from his earpiece, Insectoid type exiles were at the center of a disturbance a few blocks from his position. Jones and Brown were already en route. These types of exiles were invulnerable to everything except fire, which would make them difficult to subdue in the rain, unless the Agents were to lure them inside of the abandoned buil-

Smith pushed Trinity off him gently and removed his earpiece. "Come on." He said again, pulling her toward the street. It was late, and Smith did not have anyplace he could take her that night, but there was a hotel across the street they could stay for the night. Jones and brown could take care of the exiles on their own for a little bit while Smith made sure Trinity was someplace safe. They were both soaking wet when they entered the hotel, the man at the front desk noticed Trinity's black eye, and made a comment on it.

"I got mugged." Trinity said saving Smith the trouble of explaining. It took too long for the man to get them a room, apologizing that there was only one available and it was a one person bed.

"We'll take it." Smith said, "We just need to get out of the rain."

The key was given to Trinity. The hotel had seen better days and was probably one bad payment away from being for lease like the building across from it. There was an awkward silence between them for a long time Trinity had been planning to runaway for a while, the backpack she had was not her school bag, but one she'd filled with extra clothes and bus money so she could escape to her friends house.

At their room, Trinity went into the bathroom to wash her face and change into her pajamas, Smith stayed where he was, wanting to make sure Trinity would be alright before he left to help his partners. He wasn't still wasn't sure what exactly had transpired between him and Trinity. Was she in love with him? What did he feel for her? He certainly preferred her company to that of other humans, and did not wish for her to be in danger. He genuinely liked her he supposed, but how deep did far did that linking extend? Smith didn't know enough about love to draw a satisfying conclusion.

Trinity came out of the bathroom. In the better light Smith could see the condition her eye was in, it didn't appear to be as bad he initially thought. She was wearing and oversized shirt to sleep in, the way some human females wore night gowns. Her arms were bare enough that Smith could see bruising on her left forearm, like she had been grabbed and squeezed hard. Probably around the same time she had been hit.

He needed to say something to her, "Trinity-" He began.

"-I love you Smith." She interrupted, her face turned red, "I'm sorry, I'm sure you think I'm just a silly little girl with a crush, but please..." Her eyes watered and her head dropped into his chest, "This might _just_ be a crush, but its the most real thing I have ever felt!"

The confession made sense to Smith, of course with her being passed around she wouldn't have had time to make many friends, let alone know anyone long enough to develop romantic feelings. Except when he walked into her life. His arms went around her, dammit what was he thinking?

"It's alright." He told her, Trinity's shoulder's started to shake, and he lifted her face to kiss her forehead. "I care about you Trinity, I don't know how much, but its the most I've care for anyone in...A long time." He settled on.

Tears dropped over her cheeks, and Smith knew in that moment he did not want to leave her alone for the night. Jones and Brown would be fine on their own, but Trinity needed him. He still hadn't put his earpiece back in.

"You should sleep." He told Trinity nodding to the bed, "We'll talk tomorrow." There was a chair in the corner of the room close to the window which he intended to occupy until morning. Trinity noticed his gaze on the chair and touched his arm.

"Will you sleep with me?" she asked, her eyes widened suddenly and the color of her face flushed again, "I- I don't mean- you know- I just...Will you hold me for a while...? I don't want to be alone."

Her clarification had Smith confused for a second until he remembered that humans sometimes used the phrase 'sleep with' as a euphemism for sexual intercourse. He blinked at the request, but nodded, he would hold her, but nothing more. His jacket was still soaking wet so he took it off and hung it on a hanger in the closet. His undershirt was damp, but he didn't want to remove it too.

Trinity was already in the bed and under the blankets, when Smith joined her. The quilts smelled old and were itchy even through his clothes, the pillows and mattress were hard too. Trinity laid her head against his chest and their arms wrapped around each other. With the bed being so uncomfortable, it took several minutes of awkward shifting before they both were in a position were they could rest easily.

Human avatars and programs were virtually they same, and required a certain amount of recharge in order to function. Agents were no different, though the time they needed for recharge was vastly shorter, typically only a couple minutes of complete shut down, though these periods could last longer when Agents were not on duty. Smith had never 'slept' though an entire night, and he spent most of this one listening to the rain, wondering about his feelings toward Trinity and human emotion.

Things were starting to change, but Smith had no idea which way they were going...

**Author's end note: **Yes, stopping there, this chapter has been going on long enough. Speaking of chapters, believe it or not this fic is actually almost over, I suspect I have about five chapters left of story. By that I mean, it could be only four or could be six more chapters long.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: **….I'm sleepy and I've been sick for a couple of days, so I probably shouldn't be writing but I needed to get some of this out of my head.

**Warning: **I'm pretty much writing this chapter on a whim so I know about as much as you do. It's longer than the last chapter

**Disclaimer: **-hiss-

Hollow

It was three in the morning when the rain finally came to a full stop. Smith was laying with Trinity in his arms for an other hour before he slid his body away from her and sat up. Despite that he had spent the whole night and well into the morning contemplating his relationship with the young hacker, he still hadn't come up with any plan on how to proceed with her now that she had revealed her feelings. His thoughts of the night had concluded that he liked his relationship with Trinity the way it was, or at least had been, but was curious about how a deeper relationship with her would play out, and yet still he did not wish to ruin the relationship they already had.

This was much more complicated that he had initially thought.

He needed to stop thinking about it for a while, so Smith put his earpiece back in its proper place hoping for some distraction from his current predicament with Trinity. The Source screamed at him to respond, catching Smith off guard. "Agent Smith here." He said quietly so that he wouldn't disturb Trinity.

"_Where are you?_" Jones replied, his voice was calm, but Smith could hear an undertone of irritation in his partner's cadence.

Smith glanced at Trinity who slept on oblivious. "I..." Smith didn't really know how to explain.

Another voice, the Architect, interrupted him, "_Agent Smith. Agent Jones and Agent Brown are at headquarters with me, please join us immediately._" His voice was also calm, though his tone suggested there were hundreds of other things he would rather be doing.

"I will be there." Smith replied.

"_Bring the car._" Brown said with the same hidden irritation that Jones had.

"Yes." Smith agreed.

Things went silent again, Smith stood from the bed and retrieved his jacket out of the closet where he had put it the night before. He also searched for his sunglasses, he knew he had taken them off when he'd been looking for Trinity the night before, but could not remember what he had done with them. After a quick search he determined he did not bring them into the hotel so he must have left them in his car.

He stood in front of the door a moment, he did not know how long he would be gone so he decided he should leave a note for Trinity so she did not panic when she awoke and found him missing. He fished a pen out of his pocket, and ripped a piece of paper off a pad that was left in the room for guests. He stared at the blank piece of paper for a few minutes, not sure what to write. Eventually he left a simple notification that he had been called in for work, and that since it was Monday he expected she would find a way to get to school, he would pick her up after, and they would talk then.

He left the note on the pillow beside Trinity where he had been laying before, and left. At the front desk he also left a note for the owners with his contact information if he didn't come back before Trinity left.

Though it had stopped raining an hour ago, the roads were still wet and large puddles were everywhere. Smith got into the car and looked for his sunglasses. Not there either, what had he done with them? Forgetting about it Smith started the car and returned to the government building where he was supposed to meet Jones, Brown, and the Architect. They were only a few blocks away, and Smith wondered briefly if Trinity had been trying to reach him the night before. He shook his head to clear the thought away. He didn't want to be thinking about this now.

After finding a parking space Smith abandoned his current host in favor of one already on the same floor as the programs he was meeting. Equipped with a new pair of sunglasses the mystery of what had become of his other ones were no longer mattered, and he made his way to those who were waiting for him.

The look on his partners faces indicated they were not pleased about his failure to appear on assignment the night before. They had not bothered to change hosts yet, revealing the damages they had taken the night before. Both of them had their suits torn in several places, Jones's sunglasses had be cracked and Brown had a burn on his left hand that scorched up his arm. Furthermore, since Smith had the car, they had walked back to headquarters in the late night down poor, and both were still soaked through. Though the damages were relatively minor, obviously his partners had not changed hosts to emphasize their complaint at Smith's absence.

"Where were you?" Jones asked again.

Smith explained the situation with Trinity (leaving out certain details), he had taken her to a hotel so that she would be safe for the evening, and she had requested he stay with her, which he had decided was more important than helping Jones and Brown. He had trusted that his younger partners would be able to take care of this minor disturbance while he was making sure the human they were hiring for this project was safe.

Jones and Brown cast a glance at each other, sensing something that Smith left unsaid, however before either could make a comment the Architect spoke up. "Reasonable as your excuse for not aiding your partners last night is Agent Smith, regardless you perhaps should have at least told Agent Jones and Agent Brown you would not be joining them."

Smith nodded, "Should the need ever arise again that I am incapable of being on assignment when I am called, I will remember that."

"Good." The Architect had an expression of boredom on his face that suggested he thought this whole confrontation was a waste of time. "Though the situation last night was not resolved as efficiently as was expected, we must not forget that it was handled. Agents Jones and Brown you may do as you wish, however, Agent Smith, your failure to inform your partners of your plans to not join them will not go undisciplined..."

Smith's lips twitched downward, he knew exactly where this was headed.

"Therefore all the paperwork for this case, all recording of this incident, cover ups and explanation to human authority is your responsibility."

Again Smith nodded. If there was one thing Smith hated most about being an Agent it was hiding all evidence of something being wrong from the humans. It was one thing to play prison guard, it was another thing all together to fabricate a believable story about why a certain building was suddenly burned down. He had no problem with lying to humans, but he simply felt that he was above this kind of work, there were other programs more suited to it.

This matter settled, the Architect chose to move on. "Now as for Miss Edwards, you specifically told her that she would be staying with you, is that correct?"

"Yes." Smith replied, "She's rather distrustful at the moment, I think putting her in a home with strangers would do more harm than good, and she has already expressed trust in me."

Jones and Brown cast that knowing look at each other again, and Smith had to wonder if they somehow knew more about the situation than Smith had told them, but once again the Architect prevented any comment from them, "You realize that you have no home to share with her?"

"I do."

"So then I will have to program living arrangements to accommodate the two of you for the time being...Unless- you were one of the Agents that participated in the Venus project, I recall?"

Smith tensed at the mention of the project, "It was a failure."

"Do you have any objections to simply restoring the housing program that was used in that project, I may still have the program for it filed away somewhere."

"No objections." Smith lied, "It will do."

Personally Smith would rather forget the Venus Project had ever happened, and the recent reminders like meeting Persephone and Trinity's confession served only to annoy him. The project was a failure, Agents were not meant to love, and the disastrous results of the Venus project had only made Smith certain that love was nothing more than an invention of humans to make them believe that there was something good in their miserable existence. This was proven further by relationships such as the one between the Kettners.

What was so special about love?

"I will search for that then. It will be a few hours, so you best get started on your assignment."

Living arrangements taken care of, Smith nodded again and excused himself to his office to start working. Jones and Brown switched hosts before joining him to give him exact details of what had happened during his absence...

–

When Trinity woke up she wasn't sure where she was at first, but she quickly remember what had happened the night before, and was surprised to find that Smith was not in the bed with her. He'd left her a note, he was at work and (dammit) he wanted her to go to school.

_We will talk after I pick you up._

From those words she suspected he meant he wasn't coming back to the hotel, and if she wanted to see him again she would _have_ to go. But how to get there? She ended up calling Cynthia to ask for a ride. She had to explain to her friend that, yes, she had run away from her foster home with the Kettners, and she hadn't been able to call her for help. She then had to explain that just because Smith found her and took her to a hotel did not mean that they had slept together, er, at least not had sex that night.

"Look Cynth, I admit, I like him, but there's no way we're ready for that." She said as she got into the passenger's seat while Cynthia took the driver's side. It must have been nice to have a license. "I _just_ told him last night that I-"

"-You mean he _isn't _your secret lover? Then what's with all the 'I can't tell you' stuff you're always spilling out when we ask about him, huh Christine?" Cynthia half teased.

"I can't tell you that- don't roll your eyes Cynth! Its supposed to be top secret, and I shouldn't have even told you _that!"_

"How did he find you anyway?"

"Oh drop it Cynthia!" She hissed playfully slapping her friend's arm. Though that last question suddenly made her realize that it was sort of weird that Smith has just suddenly appeared, like he somehow knew where she would be.

Despite her attempt to end the conversation, Trinity still got all sorts of questions about her night with Smith the whole car ride, and up to the front doors of the school, until they parted ways to get to different first period classes. Trinity had to time her trips to different classes perfectly to slip passed her blonde-haired friend and her embarrassing questions during passing periods. The one good thing about this was at least Cynthia was supportive.

Still Trinity skipped lunch to avoid further interrogation, by not just Cynthia, but any of the others that she might have 'accidentally' told about Christine's late night encounter with her lover. She hid in the courtyard, taking the time to do the math homework that had been assigned for the night. It was at that time that she noticed something odd.

While she was dividing her attention between A squared divided by C plus B equals _Whatever_, and the mystery of how Smith had found her the night before, Trinity randomly glanced up from her paper and saw a rabbit hop from one side of the nearby bush to the other. It was mostly brown with white tipped ears, and black paws, and it was adorable. Trinity smiled a bit, and looked back down at her paper.

Her attention was drawn back up by movement, and a rabbit hopped from the same point to the other point _again_. The _same_ rabbit. It was like someone was playing one of those old films, and suddenly it skipped. At first Trinity told herself, it couldn't have been the same rabbit, must have been two chasing each other, but then the rabbit reappeared in front of the bush before dashing off to the other side of the court yard.

No other rabbit followed.

Besides, what were the odds that two rabbits would have the same markings like white tipped ears and black paws?

"Deja vu..." she finally concluded and returned to her homework. Still something about it unnerved her.

–

Jones and Brown had waited for Smith to join them for an hour before the exiles discovered and ambushed them. The initial attack had left them a little torn up and a perfectly timed kick to the face while Jones was distracted had resulted in the damage to his sunglasses. Once aware of their predicament the two Agents were able to gain control of the situation. While their guns were of no real use against the Insectoid exiles, they did cause the exiles to hesitate when fired upon.

Jones and Brown then lured the exiles (they had counted three in the attack) into one of the abandoned buildings, and used some flammable chemicals to create a small bomb of sorts. Inside the building Brown used himself as bait to lead the Insectoids into a quickly made trap. The bomb went off prematurely and Brown had not been able to escape the blast, he was blown back, and his left hand caught fire resulting in his burn. Thankfully Jones had been able to put the flames out before they caused too much damage to his partner.

The old building burned quickly despite the rain, the Agents saw at least one of the exiles escape into the night and tried to pursue it, but lost it in the dark. They then returned to the building, humans were already emerging from nearby building to see what was happening, and it wasn't much longer before the fire department arrived on scene. Acting as human authority, they were able to get information on what had happened to the remaining exiles.

With the flames down, a rescue crew had found a group of ten 'squatters' that had been staying in that building, none of them had survived, and were burned so badly that they were unidentifiable. Still posing as top level government Jones and Brown had stated to the press that the squatters were men and women they were tracking in relation to a number of attacks, and an investigation as to what had caused the fire was underway.

This investigation, being a test to Smith's ability to use facts found at the scene that would explain what had happened. What Smith reports concluded was that this organization of protesters, possibly terrorists, had hid in the building in attempt to evade questioning by his partners Agents Jones and Brown. The building, being old and long since unused, was full of unstable chemicals and not up to the standard safety code. Coupled with a gas leak, the structure stood no chance against any flame which could have been caused by any of the following: A cigarette, gunfire, a homemade bomb, or the accidental ignition of any of the flammable chemicals that had been left unattended.

Finished with his cover up story, Smith made short work of recording and filing all the information on the incident, logging and categorizing, organizing and hiding it away so that no one would ever care to look it up again. Smith always expected such work would keep him busy for longer than necessary, he supposed that the boredom of completing such a task was what continuously made him over estimate the time it would take. He was done with plenty of time before he was supposed to pick up Trinity.

Jones and Brown were out monitoring a failing shopping area that had reports of strange occurrences like floating objects and broken things like bottles reassembling. Sounded like a typical 'soft spot' or a place within the Matrix that was in a constant flux of glitches. These soft spots were typically in abandoned or uninhabited places, and weren't usually a problem, but occasionally they were discovered by humans and the Agents were put on assignment to evaluate the level of degeneration and fix what they could before the Architect rewrote the code of the whole area.

Smith had seen his share of soft spots, but he'd never seen one in an area as populated as this street market. The area wasn't the most successful, but it still had a fair amount of loyal customers that still browsed the shops that were still open, even though they were outnumbered by closed buildings. Smith had a suspicion that this occurrence of a soft spot in this location may have been an early warning sign that the Matrix needed to be reloaded, having experienced a couple of reloads he had come to notice that things went to Hell just before the anomaly of the One appeared and the reload began.

His work concerning the exiles the night before completed, and with at least an hour and a half before he needed to pick up Trinity, Smith took over a new host at the soft spot and joined his partners. Brown filled him in on what they had uncovered so far, "It does not appear this is very serious." He led Smith to a particular closed shop, "This is where things are most noticeable. We've only been able to simulate very minor disturbances."

Smith bent down to pick up a discarded can from the floor, he then tossed it across the empty space towards Jones, but before the can hit the ground it stopped in the air and just floated. Gravitational errors were the most common of glitches in the Matrix. Jones kicked the can the rest of the way to the ground.

"There have been no signs of any weather or electrical problems in the area." He continued from where Brown had left off, "So far it seems most of the witnesses to any of the soft spot sightings have believed that they are merely suffering hallucinate effects from a gas leak. We have ordered for this place to be closed down tomorrow so that the problem can be fixed."

"Are there any other glitches we should investigate?" Smith asked.

Jones shook his head, but Brown offered up a rumor, "A child claimed to have been wandering the shops after getting separated from his parents when his shadow started acting on its own accord."

"There have been no other reports of such an event." Jones added, obviously disagreeing with Brown's decision to include this in their findings. "His parents also said that the boy also recently experienced a minor head trauma."

Smith agreed with Brown though, "It's worth a look." He said, "We do not want to have to come back here in two months to clean up something we missed. What were the conditions of this sighting."

Brown shot a quick glance at Jones that held a light expression of triumph at having been the one Smith sided with, before he led Smith back out into the street and pointed to the statue of a man on a horse in the center of the market. "The boy reported that he circled the statue clockwise three times before he went up and down the shops hoping his parents would spot him. Then circled the statue again when his shadow... 'came to life', are his words."

"When he went up and down the shops did he go north or south, and on which side of the street?" Smith inquired. "We need to repeat his movements exactly if we are going to replicate the phenomenon."

"He didn't specify." Jones replied.

"Fine. We will need to try them both." Smith concluded, "Jones you start at that side going south, I'll take this end, going north. Brown you go with Jones, but stay on the other side of the street. If the shadow glitch does not reappear I will do the north road again on the opposite side."

The plan made, the three Agents set about recreating the events leading up to the boy seeing the supposed shadow glitch, they went one at a time to avoid drawing too much attention to their actions. Smith normally paid no mind to humans while he was working, but the situation with Trinity crossed his mind, and he realized his time to come up with a solution was running short while he still had no idea how to proceed.

So while he wandered, Smith observed the different human couplings he saw in the market. The first was a young couple, close to Trinity's age, either just out of high school or ditching classes to be here. They were disgusting, the male pressed his female companion into the wall while they made a wild exchange of saliva. The young woman had her legs wrapped loosely around her partners waist, and her arms barely hanging around his neck, the only support keeping her from dropping to the floor was the her back against wall, and the male's hands clasping her buttocks. A brief thought crossed Smith's mind to fire his gun, just to see if the noise would cause the man to drop her, but it died quickly as Smith moved on.

That was without a doubt _not_ what he wanted his relationship with Trinity to be like.

The next couple Smith saw was a pair closer to his approximate age, the two were exiting a shop amidst an argument. The Agent could not make out their words, but their tones were clearly upset, and their body language suggested exhaustion, like this was a repeated controversy they were both tired of having. They passed out of Smith's line of vision and hearing range and were forgotten.

Reaching the end of the street Smith turned back and saw several other human couplings. There was a man and a woman somewhere in their late twenties who walked down the street with a child clasping one hand of each parent as the little girl waddled along, and an elderly couple well past their prime sitting on a bench together not speaking, but their hands held together in a soft intimacy that was all they needed. As Smith neared his starting point again he saw a man walking with a woman suddenly stop in front of the horse statue and kneel, producing a small box with a ring and offering it to his companion.

Smith stopped to watch this exchange. The woman looked shocked, her face somehow managed to turn an odd mix of both red and green, and she looked around nervously at the people passing them, giving them a moments glance. She finally looked back at the proposing male. "No...No...I'm sorry." She said closing the box and helping the man to his feet, "You know I love you Denis, but no. I'm not ready for this."

The man looked hurt, "Is this a 'no its over,' or a 'no, but give it a few years and it might be a yes'? He asked, his voice wavered as if he didn't want an answer.

She smiled at him reassuringly, "Give it a few years and it might be a yes, but it might not be. We'll see in a few years." She said and pulled him away from the statue and the pair vanished into the crowd.

Of the human pairs Smith had seen, this was the only one that left any impression on him. His understanding of relations suggested that when one human expressed a desire to take the next step in their relationship that the corresponding party member was obligated to an immediate yes or no answer. Yet he had just seen a a relationship at a turning point in which the person in question had counter proposed a postponing of this step, time to wait until she was ready to take it.

Smith knew now that this could be applied himself and Trinity. He was not prepared for a change in their established relationship, and until he was he could give her a simple wait and see answer.

That figured out, he continued his original task of trying to initiate the shadow glitch. Jones and Brown were already at the statue and shook their heads at his approach, their attempts to do the same ended with failure. Smith circled the statue again and joined his partners, standing back he looked at his shadow, watching for any signs of-

Smith had his hands in his pockets and suddenly his shadow's right hand pulled away and dropped to its side rolling its fingers against its leg. The three Agents exchanged a look and added this glitch to the list for their report. Jones handed Smith the keys to the car so that he could pick up Trinity while the two remaining Agents finished the analysis of the soft spot.

Smith contemplated his offer to Trinity as he drove toward her school. By human law she was not of consenting age for a sexual relationship and the age difference between them could be used to Smith's advantage while he sorted out what his feeling toward her and the way he wanted things between them to be.

He was a little early, since he'd left a note telling Trinity he would pick her up Smith knew she would come out the front entrance to the parking lot. He left his car and waited at the steps leading to the school. Minutes dragged by for a long time, but at last the final bell rang and students started to spill out of the front, paying no mind to the man in the suit as they passed. The scent of so many adolescent humans was almost overwhelming, but just as Smith was about to retreat back to his car he spotted Trinity coming through the doors.

She wasn't alone.

Smith recognized the boy at her side as one of the friends that had been with her when he'd picked her up the day the two of them had gotten stuck in the elevator together. He didn't know the boy's name, but his impression of him was as a rude adolescent that Trinity did not particularity care for as opposed to the girl Cythnia that had also been present that day. Smith's dislike for this boy was not aided by the arm hanging around Trinity's shoulder despite the look of protest she wore.

Trinity's eyes were down, avoiding eye contact with her companion who kept trying to pull her closer, reminding Smith of the male of the same age range he had seen at the market. Trinity looked up, seeing Smith and shook the boy off her. Smith started to approach them, the male noticed and his expression darkened.

"That's him right?" He asked.

"For the last time Tony, this really isn't any of your business." Trinity snapped walking away from the boy, Tony, towards Smith, but suddenly she stopped, "Shit! I left my spare notebook in my locker, I'll be right back, okay?" she said to Smith and turned around.

"Christine!" Tony called after her, but she ignored him. Tony then looked at Smith, the dark expression on his face Smith started to recognize was an expression of jealousy, clearly thinking of Smith as competition for a potential mate.

While Smith was not currently interested in pursuing that sort of relationship with the young woman, he certainly respected that Trinity felt the same way about such a relationship with Tony. The boy opened his mouth with an accusatory expression, but before a single sound could escape his throat, Smith stretched his arms casually, mimicking a gesture he had seen humans do. The act of doing so caused his jacket to loosen enough to subtly reveal the gun Smith carried.

He dropped his arms again and looked at Tony with an expression he hoped conveyed that the act of showing off his weapon was not an accident but a warning. It appeared to work as Tony's dark face suddenly paled and his eyes widened. The boy backed a step in submission leading to a dramatic silence between the two of them until Trinity returned, she did not have her school bag with her and so she carried it in her arms protectively like a diary.

Trinity passed Tony without a word and walked away with Smith before Tony managed to weakly call out, "See you tomorrow Christie."

"Don't call me Christie!" She called back.

Smith didn't say a word, not even after they got into the car. Tony's attraction to Trinity brought in a new factor to add to his problem with Trinity. By having feelings for him, was Trinity denying herself a healthy relationship with someone more suited to her? Not necessarily this boy in particular, it was Smith's opinion that the human race would be better off if that young man never found a mate or decided to breed.

They left the school behind still silent for several blocks before Trinity spoke up. "Um... Smith about... You said we'd talk." She hesitated, sounding almost terrified. Smith supposed his failure to respond to Tony with a jealous rage, and that he'd yet to actually speak up about the relationship Trinity wanted might have made her suspect he was about to break her heart.

Smith always thought that was an odd term, hearts were a vital organ, that really had no connection to emotions. It was not possible to physically break one with words or actions (unless this action was to rip it out and tear it apart), and if it were the result would be a slow death.

He turned on to a less used road and pulled over to the side, not quite stopping the car, but refusing to go any further until this topic was settled. He removed his sunglasses and looked at Trinity, humans seemed to think people were more honest when they looked each other in the eyes without obstruction. Smith knew he was perfectly capable of getting away with a flat out lie under the same circumstances, but decided to humor Trinity by looking at her directly, blue eyes to blue eyes.

"I like you." He said, "And that means something because I do not like many people. I am willing to openly let us refer to one another as friends." Trinity's expression began to drop. "You surprised me last night by telling me how you feel, and I've been thinking about it, I don't have an answer for you about it. It's been a long time since I was involved with anyone, so I need some time to think about this, do you understand?"

Trinity nodded, but she still looked disappointed.

Smith continued, "You are also still underage, and if we were caught in a romantic relationship, I'm the one it reflects badly on. Even if you told everyone that you initiated it, and it was completely consensual, I still look like a middle aged pervert getting it off with jail bait. You might get teased, mislabeled as a slut or other uncomplimentary names, but my reputation would be ruined, I could loose my job, or even face prison time if this got blown out of proportion."

He was exaggerating of course, as an Agent what would happen was more likely that both he and Trinity would have their memories modified and he would be transferred to a different assignment while she was placed with a different guardian. He found it note worthy that realizing this would be the likely action of discipline, he understood that wasn't what he wanted.

"I understand." Trinity said quietly, but not happily.

"So we have an agreement then? We will continue living as friends and- I was looking for you last night to tell you this- but you have been officially hired to help track the terrorist Morpheus, as such I suppose we're also colleagues now." Trinity's face finally brightened at this news. "So as I was saying, we'll stay together for a while, I'll think about what I want from our relationship and if you still feel the same way for me when you're of consenting age I will give you my answer." He started to back onto the road.

"What do you mean if I feel the same way about you?" Trinity asked.

"You're young. Hearts change, in a year you might realize that you don't really want to be in a relationship with a man twice your age and start considering dating people more appropriate." Smith explained.

"You mean like Tony?" She sounded annoyed.

"No, not like Tony." He answered, "Just someone closer to your age. If you decided to go out with Tony I might shoot him regardless if I had romantic feelings for you or not...Out of curiosity, putting me out of the picture, why don't you want to go out with Tony?" Smith asked.

"Because Tony is disgusting."

"How so?" Smith thought most humans of that age were 'disgusting' on principle, and he was curious about why this one was someone Trinity had given this label.

"Because he doesn't take showers in the morning, or after he gets out of PE." Trinity answered, counting reasons on her fingers from a list. "Because he has booger flinging contests with ten year olds. He uses football as an excuse to wallow in mud like a pig..."

Already Smith regretted asking, and from the looks things, Trinity was no where near finished. The Agent half listened while he continued to drive, occasionally nodding so that Trinity would be satisfied he was paying attention, at last Smith pulled up to an apartment complex that had been reloaded into the Matrix. Once it had been home to Agents and Venuses, but after the project was shut down it was simply abandoned. There were people entering and exiting the building now, programs designed to make the place look occupied.

A construction zone was on the west side doing some 'remodeling', and a few programs were doing some last minute analysis of the building, making sure it was perceived as normal. Given that Trinity would be staying there Smith suspected the place would also be open for human used too.

"-And whenever someone farts in class he rates it. I know some people think he's funny, but personally I just find it sick." Trinity concluded as Smith pulled into the parking lot.

"I agree."

Trinity looked at the building, despite having been freshly put into use, the building looked a few years old, with paint peeling in spots, "This is where you live?"

"More or less." Smith told her as they got out of the car, it wasn't, and wouldn't be a lie, "Agents do not work in shifts like some organizations do. We have eyes and ears on the field all the time, if there is a disturbance whichever team is closest is called in to take care of it. Which reminds me, I was called in for assignment last night, but chose to remain with you. My partners were able to handle the job without me, and my superiors decided that my reasoning for not coming was acceptable."

"Whoops," Trinity blushed, "I'm sorry about that, I didn't know."

"It is alright, it just can't happen again." Smith explained, leading her up a set of stairs to the apartment he'd once shared with the Venus program called Hestia. The key to had been given back to him by program he was not familiar with before he'd left to investigate the soft spot. When Smith opened the door, he almost expected his former partner Hestia to come rushing to greet him...And was more than a little relieved when no such thing happened.

It was an average sized apartment, all the rooms commonly found in human housing like a kitchen, bookcases, a TV, two bedrooms, and a bathroom, but nothing particularly fancy, in spite of Hestia's insistence that they deserved better. Though it was smaller than the foster home that Trinity had previously lived at, she still marveled at the place.

Smith shut the door behind them, and touched her shoulder "Welcome home."

**Author's End note: **I had a few other things I wanted to write into this chapter, but I think if I tried to fit anything else into it the story would feel cramped. Again, enjoy the nice long chapter because I got lucky that I had time for it. The following chapters will probably not be as long.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's note:** A note on the age difference between Trin and Smith, I'm on the boat that Agents don't physically age, so Smith looks exactly as he does in the movies late thirties early forty's whereas Trinity is only seventeen in this fic, so yes, he is twice her age.

**Warning: **Morpheus. He gets his own warning.

**Disclaimer: **-insert witty remark about copyright-

Hollow

**BaneofHermes: **Hey Trin, you on?

**Trinity: **Yeah I'm here. What's up Bane?

**BaneofHermes: **Eh just a little bored, thinking of planting some dirty pictures in my boss's e-mail. You?

**Trinity: **I got a job to do, but I might crash the party that's going on across the street.

**BaneofHermes: **Where? I might join yonmbfds

The screen jumbled and random letters flew across it before the screen went completely black. Trinity blinked several times "Hey!" She slapped the side of her computer and looked at the connection wires. Everything seemed to be in pace, "Shit! What just happened? This is a new computer!"

Trinity hit a few keys and jiggled the wires. Nothing. Then words appeared across the screen like someone was talking to her through a chat room post.

_Knock knock_

Trinity stared at the message, her brow furrowing in confusion before she answered with the only reply she could come up with.

_Who's there?_

_You know._

_You know who?_

_That's right Trinity, you know who._

Her left eyebrow raised.

_Bane? Is that you? This isn't cute, or funny._

_Not Bane. Listen Trinity, you are in danger._

The right eyebrow went up.

_Danger? What danger, what are you talking about?_

_The Matrix has you._

"Wha...? Trinity looked around, almost expecting there to be a camera on her. She'd read that term online in various conspiracy forums she'd been assigned to hack for the Agency, well not so much hack as just sign on and talk to a few people, ask some questions and then plant coded messages that would shut them down. Trinity never cared enough to do any real research into it.

_What is the Matrix?_ She typed.

_Ask your friend._ Was the reply.

_Who? Bane? Smith?_

_Knock knock Trinity._

The sound of keys being fit into the door made Trinity jump and she whirled around in her chair as Smith walked in the door. It had been three months since they'd started living together, and true to his word, Smith was rarely home, sometimes Trinity would go days without seeing him.

"Smith you're back!" She said, the relief in her voice alerted him to her sudden unease.

"What's wrong?" He asked, not bothering to take his jacket off as he approached her and the computer. Trinity backed out of his way so he could get a good view of the screen when he sat at the extra chair...but the screen had changed again.

**BaneofHermes: **Trin? Trinity?

**BaneofHermes: **Are you still there?

**BaneofHermes: **Hello?

"That's weird." Trinity muttered moving back in front of the screen and telling Bane she had to go and logging off. She then turned back to Smith, "I was just talking to Bane when the screen went black." She explained.

Smith eyed the wires they way she had, "A connection problem?" He asked.

She shook her head, "That's what I thought, but then I got a weird message."

"What did it say?"

Trinity told him about the knock knock parody, "They said I knew who it was."

"One of your friends?" Smith almost sounded concerned, like he was hoping this was the case.

Since moving in with him, Trinity had been spending more and more time online using her hacker alias both to do assignments Smith brought home for her, and for her own amusement. Trinity had more made more friends online in a few weeks of summer vacation than she had the whole school year even with Cynthia helping her. She felt no need to hide who she was on the internet, and people liked her for it.

Trinity shrugged, "If it was I don't know who, none of them have done anything like that to me before."

"Keep a record of this, if it happens again I want to know about it." Smith said, he made a move to stand up, but Trinity took his hand and he stayed where he was.

Smith wasn't the only one who had kept their word since they'd moved in together. Trinity counted down the days and months until he was supposed to give her his answer about how he felt about her. She gave him his space, trying not to frighten him off by being too forward, but every once in a while she just wanted to remind Smith that she loved him. Trinity liked to think she was making progress with him. However Smith's last relationship had went, obviously it effected him more than he was willing to admit because he tended to withdraw whenever she touched him during the first few weeks.

But now Smith didn't protest when she took off his sunglasses and looked him in the eyes. Normally when she did this she'd just say she loved him and let him go, but something crossed her mind and different words came out of her mouth today, "Smith, what is the Matrix?"  
Smith's eyes had drifted down to Trinity's hand entwined with his, but the moment she said 'Matrix' his gaze snapped up and he stood abruptly dropping her hand. "Where did you hear about that?" he said in almost a growl, clearly upset.

Trinity was shocked, she'd never seen Smith react so suddenly to anything and she was speechless for a moment before he asked again, a little more aggressively. "I-I I've seen the term used on some of those conspiracy sites, and codes you had me crack." She explained, Smith visibly relaxed until she added, "And the guy who just contacted me...he mentioned it. Said I was in danger and to ask you about it."

Smith took her shoulders and looked her in the eyes, "What did he say? What were his exact words?" Terrified Trinity squeaked out her reply, just a passing mention, nothing more than she had already told him. Smith relaxed again and dropped his hands. "I'm sorry." He said, but he didn't sound like he meant it. "Do not ask me about the Matrix ever again. I mean it Trinity...It's dangerous"

Trinity only nodded. Awkward silence filled the room before Trinity dared speak, "Have you eaten yet? I can heat up left over Chinese."

Smith shook his head, "I'm fine." Then suddenly he cocked his head and raised a hand to his earpiece, "Dammit." he muttered, taking his sunglasses off the table and putting them back on.

"Did you get another report already?" Trinity rolled her eyes, "Do they really just send who ever is closest or are they picking on you?"

Smith cracked a tiny smile, those were very rare for him to give, but Trinity had been seeing them a little bit more, maybe because she saw Smith more often now, or maybe because he was warming up to her. These smiles still vanished quickly "I should not be gone long, maybe an hour." he said, a stone again before he left.

Trinity turned back to her computer, intent on getting back on the chatroom with Bane again while Smith was out, when he came back maybe they could start a movie or something. Three months living together and the most romantic thing they did was watch a movie with Trinity's head in his lap and sometimes she could sneak into his bed for the night before he left in the middle of it. Maybe tonight she could convince him to watch the movie with his head in _her_ lap.

Her plans were put to a halt when she saw her screen, completely black once again but for a single message:

_Follow him._

Trinity looked out the window, Smith couldn't have gotten to the car yet, but why should she follow him? Why was it suddenly so tempting to? She looked back to the screen

_Follow him if you want answers._

Trinity stood without thinking and left the apartment locking it behind her quietly. Other than the occasional meager illumination of a street light or store that was still open, it was pitch black outside. Whoa, how long had she been online? Smith was already down the stairs, but not heading to his car, where ever his tip was leading him, it was obviously somewhere he could go on foot. Trinity tiptoed down the stairs and kept Smith in her sight. He didn't even look back once. Where was he going?

Smith paused outside a warehouse hand to his earpiece awaiting orders before he entered. Trinity hesitated a moment a sick feeling in her stomach torn between wanting to follow and go back to the apartment and forget about these 'answers' to questions she hadn't really asked. Her feet moved almost as if on their own accord and she opened the door silently.

Smith was nowhere in sight, but she could hear voices and risked following them. There was a light across the warehouse, the voices seemed to be coming from that direction. Her footsteps sounded deafening to her, making Trinity terrified she'd be caught so her progress was slow, pausing every time she heard the voices raise.

At last she was close enough to start recognizing words and speakers. "I am surprised you managed to stay off of our radar for this long." That voiced belonged to Agent Jones.

"Was someone helping you? Speak." That one was Agent Brown. How had they gotten here so fast?

"Y-you Agents don't scare me." A gruff unfamiliar voice replied, but the wavering suggested otherwise.

"We just want to stay out of trouble, please." A second stranger with a softer voice said, "We're no threat to the Matrix, leave us be."

_The Matrix._ There was that word again. Smith had told her it was dangerous, but the more Trinity was hearing of it now the more she was starting to really become curious. She peeked through the door where the Agents and the two (maybe more) others were speaking.

There were only two, both on their knees and wearing sunglasses much like the Agents. The first was a little guy, or at least as compared to his bulkier partner, being roughly about the same height and physic as the surrounding Agents. He looked Asian, but something that stood out about him was the fact that he had _wings_. Actual feathered wings like an angel.

The second man, the big guy was taller and twice as big around than Smith, all muscle, but still cowering in his presence. His shirt was open, his skin was brown and looked at this distance to be covered with scars, maybe tattoos. There was something wrong with his head, he was bald, but something was there, like horns.

The Agents had them surrounded on all sides, Smith in the center facing them with Jones and Brown on either side with the wall to their backs. It looked like there had been a fight, but the Agents didn't seem to have any damage."A Seraphim and a Gargoyle are no threat on their own, true." Smith said in response to the angel's plea, "What concerns us, is that you are together. Typically your kind do not see eye to eye, is that correct?"

The two guys on the floor exchanged a desperate guilty look.

"Why would a Gargoyle and a Seraphim team up?" Jones mused aloud, not some much as a real question, but a taunt.

"Unless they were under orders to." Brown said.

"Please," The angel said again flexing his wings nervously. Why didn't he just fly away? Was he really not willing to leave his partner behind, or, did he just have no escape from the Agents?

"Who are you working for?" Smith asked raising his gun to the big guy's forehead. "Answer me."

Even though the Gargoyle made a frighten whimper, Trinity's heart pounded with fear for Smith's safety. He might have a gun in his hand, but that guy could rip him in half if he found the courage to. Smith started to count while the angel pleaded for them to be let go. At the count of five the Gargoyle moved to rise clearly thinking of escaping, Smith fired, the loud bang of his gun split Trinity's ears and she screamed covering them as the guy dropped. The Agents all looked up in surprise, but the angel remained focused and while Smith was distracted delivered a hard punch to his abdomen.

Smith reacted by turning his gun toward the angel, but he had jumped to his feet and with one swift kick knocked the gun out of his hand, it fired as it hit the ground and the bullet ricocheted off the wall. Weaponless Smith took a defensive stance blocking another punch aimed at his face, but left unable to defend his shin from a kick. He went down on one knee while Jones and Brown went after the angel who slipped between them and ran passed Trinity. The other Agents chased him, ignoring her in favor of catching their quarry.

Smith was on his feet again, giving chase as well, but he alone stopped to talk to Trinity, "What are you doing here?" He hissed, for the first time he actually sounded angry with her.

"I-I..." Trinity didn't know how to explain, she just followed the directions left on her computer blindly. For what?

"You shouldn't have seen this."

Then Trinity opened her eyes with a start, sitting upright gasping in terror.

Beside her, Smith grunted, "Trinity?" He said, "What's wrong?"

Trinity looked around her, they were in Smith's room, no warehouse, no monsters or angels. What the hell? "What was all that?" She asked while Smith attempted to calm her.

"What was what?" He replied sounding truly confused, "Trinity calm down. Whatever it was, it was just a dream. Tell me about it." She wanted to, but the more Trinity thought about it the less she could remember. "It was just a dream." Smith repeated. He looked at the clock and said he had to go to work, but Trinity should try to go back to sleep "In your own bed, if you don't mind." He added. She nodded and soon enough she had returned to her room, clutching her pillow uneasily, unable to fall back into slumber.

_If it was just a dream, why did she feel like she was still in it?_

Outside Smith approached the car, Jones and Brown coming down the street shaking their heads. The Seraphim had gotten away. Smith swore under his breath. He knew exactly who had contacted Trinity earlier that evening. "Morpheus." He mouthed as he got into the car, letting Brown drive.

In the following days Trinity was continuously plagued by the odd feeling that had kept her awake that night. Once or twice she asked Smith about what she was feeling, the notion of dreaming. Even when she was awake. "It's getting harder to tell when I'm awake and when I'm asleep." She confess.

"You're a teenager, that's normal, nothing more than a phase you'll grow out of." Smith tried to tell her.

Trinity could tell he was lying.

After a couple of weeks, the feeling hadn't gone away. Trinity couldn't even spend time with her friends (real or online) without wondering strange things. Like... _is any of this real?_ Trinity became withdrawn, quiet, like she had no friends at all, just short of being depressed.

_Does anyone know what's happening to me?_

Smith brought back assignments, like normal, but whenever he left on missions he lingered a little while longer, clearly concerned for her. Trinity couldn't explain why, but she didn't trust Smith anymore. While it didn't use to bother her that he couldn't tell her anything about his job, suddenly it was the only thing that was on her mind.

_What are you hiding Smith?_

When Trinity got her assignments, she stuck around on the sites longer than she used to, taking in everything she read, especially any mention of _The Matrix_. Nobody had any explanation for what it was...Only one person seemed to think they had the answer.

_Morpheus._

Trinity read every article she found on the mysterious terrorist she was supposed to be helping catch. There was no doubt he was a terrorist, being the confirmed mastermind behind several high level attacks on government property and the leading suspect on several others.

_Who are you Morpheus?_

One day Trinity got off the bus after a full afternoon at the mall with Cynthia and the other girls just in time to see Smith leaving with Jones and Brown. She waved to him as the car passed, but she couldn't see if he waved back. Sighing she climbed up the stairs back to the apartment wondering not for the first time what was wrong with her.

The computer was on when she entered. Trinity and Smith had a rule, the computer was to be turned off when no one was home. Smith never forgot to turn things off and Trinity was sure she hadn't even turned it on before she'd left to meet her friends at the mall. Immediately her suspicions rose, already Trinity was sure what message was waiting for her.

_Knock knock_

The last time Trinity had answered a message like this, it had started her on a slow descent into depression, and she wasn't going to let this bastard ruin her life anymore that he already had.

_Go away!_ She typed angrily.

_I can't_ came the reply, _You're ready Trinity._

_For what?_

_For the answers._

_Leave me alone._

For a moment there was no reply and Trinity was sure that she had made her point, but then the person on the other side gave her a message that she couldn't ignore.

_Don't you want to know what happened to Glitch?_

Trinity hadn't know the girl with the hacker alias 'Glitch' for very long, but she had admired her for encouraging her to leave the name Christine Edwards for the normal life, and influenced her new identity as Trinity. Several times Trinity had asked Smith if anyone had made any progress on her disappearance, but Smith could never answer her.

_What do you know about Glitch?_

Again there was a delay in answering.

_Meet me at the intersection of Wells and Lake. My companions and I will give you your answers._

_ -M_

The screen went blank. As there had been no time arranged Trinity was left to assume that he meant to get there as soon as possible. Trinity looked at the clock, 4:30. There was no telling when Smith would be back, or if he's be back tonight at all. She hesitated wondering what to do. Smith had given her a cell phone in case she needed to contact him, should she call him now and tell him that Morpheus had contacted her.

_Again._

But he had promised her answers, and if she called Smith now she'd never get them. Trinity grabbed her cell phone and slipped it into her jacket pocket, she'd meet Morpheus, and then call Smith so that he could arrest the terrorist, but only after she got her answers. She left a note for Smith, just in case he came back before she did.

_Smith, I'm meeting someone I'll be home soon.- Trin_

Then she left for the intersection, not remembering if she locked the door to the apartment or note. Trinity didn't have a license or car, but she had a bike which allowed her to be at the meeting spot in half the time it would have taken her to walk. She expected Morpheus and his 'companions' to be waiting for her under the street light like a group of drug dealers.

Instead there was no one in sight.

Trinity waited for several long minutes before a black car drove around the corner, at first Trinity thought it was Smith, but when it pulled over and the window rolled down, a bald dark skinned man looked back at her, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses that reflected everything. "Trinity." He said.

She tensed. The only people who knew her by that name were the Agents or people online who never saw her real face. "How did you-" She started to ask but Morpheus raised his hand.

"We don't have much time, and there's been a change of plans." He told her, the door behind him opened, and a head peeked out inviting her inside, "You don't have to get in if you don't want to, but its not safe to talk here. We have somewhere a little more private, and there will be others there, like you, who are looking for answers, but you will not get them unless you choose to come with us."

"Who is 'us'?" Trinity asked suspiciously.

"As you have probably guessed, I am Morpheus." He said, then nodded to the woman in the passenger seat beside him, "This is Niobe," he then indicated the man in the back seat, "And Apoc."

"We really don't have time for this." Apoc said still holding the door open for her, "The others are waiting, so either get in, or don't."

Trinity still hesitated, but as Apoc started to close the door she dashed forward and climbed it. "Don't make me regret this." She warned glaring at Morpheus slightly.

He smiled at her in the rear view mirror. "You won't." He said simply.

They drove her down town a little ways, Trinity tried to map their route and keep track of their location, but soon enough they were turning down streets she didn't recognize. Finally the car pulled up to an old forgotten building. "Inside, let's go." Apoc told her.

Trinity did as she was told following Niobe up several flights of stairs with Apoc and Morpheus behind her. True enough, when they final opened a door there were other people there, sitting expectantly waiting for answers. Trinity took the last empty seat next to a boy close to her age.

"Hey." He greeted, "I'm Ghost." he offered his hand.

"Trinity." She replied shaking it.

He grinned, "_You're_ Trinity?" Her eyebrow raised and Ghost explained, "I'm a bit of a fan of yours, weird, I always thought you were a dude."

"To be fair Ghost, I always thought _you_ were a chick." One of the girls said, she couldn't have been more than thirteen, "I'm Carnea." She said.

"Reaver." Said the other boy.

The other girl, dressed in black, spikes, and covered in piercing and make-up just flipped the bird and folder her arms without speaking.

Morpheus went to the front of the room. "Let's begin." He said, "We know why you're here. You feel like there is something...not quiet right. It's something you can feel so surely you can almost explain it in words, but something you just can't quiet put your finger on. Everything you see and touch is exactly the way it should be, and yet somehow, it's wrong. Some of you have felt this way your whole life...Other only began feeling it recently." He said looking directly at Trinity.

"What is it?" Ghost asked. "You promised us answers."

Morpheus put his hands in his pockets, and pulled a vial out of each one. "You already know what it is. What you don't know is what it _is._"

The others looked around them raising their eyebrows clearly sharing a thought that Morpheus was some sort of lunatic, but Trinity got the implication he was making, "The Matrix." She said. Immediately everyone's eyes little up, even the dark girl who hadn't said anything.

"Correct." Niobe said.

"What is the Matrix?" Carnea inquired quietly.

Morpheus held out the vials so they could see, each one held a pill, one red, the other blue. "The Matrix...Is all around you, and can't be explained with words, you have to see it for yourself." He held up the blue pill, "Reality is a terrible tornado that wipes out everything except for a single house that it carries off to a strange new world. Not everyone can handle the knowledge I am about to give to you. If you experience any doubt, any fears for what you are about to do, then take this pill. Believe what you want and live out your life however suits you. But if you are ready," he held up the red pill, "Take this one, and free you mind. Wonderland, Oz, the other side of the rainbow, your answers await you." he set the vials both down, "These are just placebos, you will be called one at a time into the next room, and you must make your choice in there."

"Carnea, if you will join us first." Apoc said opening the door to the next room. The girl stood and practically skipped to the next room. Morpheus and Niobe followed and Apoc shut the door behind him. The rest of the group sat in silence, despite Ghost's attempts at conversation. They were all nervous, excited, awaiting their turn.

"Ghost, you next please."

Several minutes went by again.

"Pan, your turn." So that was her name. Pan stood and sulked into the next room with her hands in her pocket. When the door opened again Pan was returning though it, and being led to the exit by Niobe while Apoc summoned Reaver next. He too was shortly being lead back out, and Apoc led him out so Morpheus called for Trinity himself.

"Just a moment." She said, Morpheus disappeared into the other room, Niobe and Apoc were no where in sight so Trinity got out her cell phone. Should she call Smith now? No, she still hadn't gotten her answers. She slipped it back into her pocket and went into the next room.

The first thing she noticed was that Carnea and Ghost appeared to have vanished. They hadn't left like Pan and Reaver, and there were no other exits to this room. The second thing Trinity noticed was that there was a sort of lab set up in this room, not just the pills and the choice. Thirdly there was someone else in the room. "Glitch?" Trinity couldn't believe it.

The other young woman smiled at her. Her hair was shorter, but Trinity still recognized her from their brief meetings, "Hey Christine." She said, "I'm glad you came." she sounded honest but her eyes looked sad.

Morpheus held out the two pills for Trinity, "I offer you the truth nothing more. Don't be afraid, make your choice."

Trinity looked at the pills, this whole thing seemed a little absurd, "Where did the others go?" She asked.

"They are free." Glitch said.

Morpheus nodded, "But this is your choice."

Trinity weighed her options, she still didn't have her answer, and had no idea where Ghost and Carnea had gone. She should call Smith, part of her brain was screaming, call Smith, tell him what's happening. She could take the red pill and call Smith later, she decided.

She needed to know.

Trinity took the red pill out of Morpheus hand and Glitch handed her a cup of water to swallow with it. "What now?" Trinity asked. Niobe and Apoc entered the room as she did.

"Give it a moment." Glitch assured her.

"Give what a mome..." Trinity trailed off when a strange feeling came over her, not exactly a chill, her eyelids felt heavy, and her vision blurred, "What's that?" Trinity felt like she was underwater, even as far as feeling pressure in her ears that made her own voice sound far away.

"Stay calm." Apoc said, his voices sounding like it was coming though a brick wall "I've got a lock on you, Dozer's piloting the Neb to get you."

"What?"

"Stay calm."

How could she stay calm, the room seemed to be filling with water- no not water, something else, liquid-like, but sticky and disgusting. Ooze. Trinity's body shuttered violently and her vision went black. When she could see again she felt like she was choking on something. The room was gone, replaced with the pink ooze that had been filling it.

Trinity broke through the surface of whatever it was. There were wires everywhere, she couldn't see them exactly, but she felt them. She gagged on one that was going down her throat. Trinity pulled it free and instead choked on foul mechanical air.

A shape loomed toward her, her vision was blurred but the creature was unlike anything she had ever seen. Trinity screamed, but her voice was weak, and her eyes were starting to hurt. Then it reached out, touching something and suddenly every wire attached to her naked body was wrenched free in quick agonizing succession which left her too breathless to even scream again. The ooze started to drain and Trinity was swallowed down some nightmare tube. Down, down, down into freezing water, at least she hoped it was water.

Trinity kicked and beat the water with her arms trying to stay afloat, but her limps grew tired way too fast. "Help..." She begged, her voice as weak as the rest of her. She started to sink, Trinity made a desperate attempt to stay above the surface, but to no avail. Her body gave out and she stopped fighting, it would be easy...so easy to just give up.

Something wasn't going to let her.

Trinity was snatched out of the water by something large and metallic, another one of those creatures? She was too tired to fight it off and just went limp as it pulled her up into blinding light, passing out as it lifted her, up, up, up...

"Trinity..." Someone called. "Trinity wake up..."

"Smith...?" She moaned.

"Trinity it's Glitch you're alright now."

She opened her eyes. No, she was not alright. "Where am I?"

Glitch, Morpheus, Niobe, Apoc, and some others she didn't recognize stood over her, with Ghost and Carnea laying with her, probably as naked, but all of them covered with blankets. Carnea shivered terribly and Ghost looked like he would vomit if he had the energy to.

Glitch took her hand sadly, "The tornado passed, the house has been set down" She said, continuing Morpheus's earlier metaphor. "Oz awaits."

"Oz?" Carnea asked.

"Your dream is over." Niobe explained, "Welcome to reality."

**Author's end note: **I keep saying I'm going to make chapters shorter but that just keeps not happening, doesn't it? I hope you enjoyed ;p

**Author's End Note 2: **Trinity's chat room friend 'BaneofHermes' is in reference to the giant Hippolytus from Greek Mythology, born to be destroy Hermes, the god of many things such as travel, messages, and thieves. I thought it would be fun to note that according to the Percy Jackson series he's also the creator of the internet, thus the username "BaneofHermes" is very appropriate for a hacker, this isn't actually important, but I wanted to mention it, because yes that's supposed to be Bane from the second and third movies.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's note: **I'm really enjoying your responses to these chapters encouraging Smith and Trinity's relationship rather than being all "Yay nao Neo can hav hur-derhur." I have done my job right. It's almost too bad I'm not a nice person.

**Warning: **This chapter will be written in a slightly different format to accommodate for the way Trinity is learning.

**Disclaimer: **I only own the OCs Carnea, Glitch, and Wyvern, all others belong to the Wachoskis.

Hollow

**Combat Exercise **

Trinity was quick to dodge an attack that Niobe had aimed at her, and danced away from another that Glitch attempted. The Construct, as it was called, had been loaded with a program to help train the new arrivals, Trinity, Ghost, and Carnea in techniques used in martial arts. The room was designed to look like a Japanese training room, perhaps to help get into the mood of the fighting style. Inside the construct Trinity's Residual Self Image still had her shoulder length black hair tied in a ponytail, though for this she had it up in a bun.

Reality was a lot to take in. Humans were grown like vegetables on a farm to be batteries for Machines that had most of them trapped in a dreamworld made of computer programming. The horror of it had almost driven her insane, and might have if she had not already been suspecting that something was wrong. Still, Trinity expected any second she would wake up with Smith trying to assure her she had just been having a really weird dream...Again.

Niobe was on one side of her, Glitch on the other, Trinity jumped, higher than she'd ever thought possible, causing her mentors to run into each other when they simultaneously rushed toward her for an attack. When she landed Trinity turned gracefully on one foot using the other to kick Glitch to the floor and ducked to avoid Niobe's fist before she pulled up again punching the remaining attacker down.

Behind her, Morpheus applauded. Trinity turned with a bow and wiped sweat off her face. She had learned to focus her mind enough that she could go on training for hours without actually tiring, but she still couldn't stop beads of sweat dripping off her body.

Glitch and Niobe got to their feet and congratulated her, "You learn fast." Niobe said, patting her shoulder.

"I suppose that's not really a compliment when anyone can learn this just by sticking a rod into their head and putting the information in their brain?" Trinity replied with a small smile. Along with physical combat she'd also learned how to handle weapons like knives and guns, all within a short amount of time. She wasn't even legal to carry those weapons!

Glitch giggled, "I suppose, but I think Niobe was actually referring to your battle instincts."

"My what?"

Morpheus answered, "You're a natural Trinity, you meet an opponent and you learn quickly what they are capable of doing. You study their attack pattern so that you can predict what they will do and you fight around that. Even with the program wired into their heads, I have seen many people still take years to learn that."

Trinity grinned, "It's not _that_ impressive. Just something you naturally learn to do when you live in foster care. You gotta know how a family is going to respond to things."

Morpheus smiled back, "Social encounters and combat are different things. It's good that you can apply what you've learned from one to the other, but don't ever forget if you see a friend on the battlefront that he'll know what to expect from you too."

Trinity had a sinking feeling about that remark, like it wasn't just a general lesson, but a specific instruction meant for her. Trinity's mind flashed back to the Matrix, to Smith still trapped inside. Everyone had someone they wanted to get out, but Morpheus had warned them that there was a rule about what kind of people they unplugged because most people were too dependent on the Matrix as their reality. Trinity knew without asking that Smith did not qualify.

But there was something else too. Something Morpheus and the others knew about Smith that they weren't telling her.

Dozer and Tank, the engineering brothers born out side of the dream world of the Matrix unplugged each of them one at a time from the construct. Trinity wasn't sure how long she had been on the Nebuchadnezzar now, the days all seemed to have merged together, she could have been there a week or a month already. Glitch stretched her arms as was greeted back to reality by Wyvern, an unofficial member of the Neb crew. He and Glitch were actually part of another ship but had been temporarily traded with two of the Neb's crewmen. Wyvern and Glitch were an item, and she had made the request to join the Nebuchadnezzar to try and free Trinity, though she had yet to tell anyone why she wanted to unplug this girl in particular. They were going back to their own ship soon.

Though as Trinity watched Glitch accept Wyvern's embrace, she saw Glitch glance over to her with a sad look before she was caught in the love Wyvern shared with her. Trinity saw these looks often from the members of the crew, like they wanted to tell her something but didn't think she was ready. Ghost and Carnea never got these looks so Trinity got an increased feeling of dread anytime she saw it.

What was different about Trinity?

**The Jump**

"Free your mind." Morpheus coached them as gently as a father.

_ Yeah_, Trinity thought, _because you'd have to be out of your mind to attempt this anyway. _She, Ghost, and Carnea stood at the edge of a building in the construct, below them several floors was the street busting with cars and pedestrians. Outside of the Matrix Carnea's eyes worked just as well as anyone's, but inside it she had worn glasses and so her RSI still had them when she first arrived and she was constantly being reminded that she didn't need them. Ghost mentioned it, and Carnea took them off, and pulled a few strands of her brunette hair behind her ears.

Morpheus and Niobe walked along their line, inspecting them. "No one ever makes their first jump so don't be disappointed if you fall, everyone does. Just remember that this is the construct, no permanent harm will come to you." Niobe told them.

"This is insane." Ghost whispered, probably meaning only for Trinity to hear him, but Morpheus shook his head at him.

"Free your mind." he repeated, "This is all in your head so anything is possible." To emphasize his point Morpheus turned and broke into a run, dashing across the roof and leaping across the road toward the building beyond. He went through the air gracefully and landed softly. Niobe touched Trinity's shoulder.

"Your turn. All of you go."

"This is insane." Ghost repeated, but if Niobe heard him she didn't comment.

_Insane does pretty much cover it._ Trinity thought looking down at the street below, there were clothes lines strung between the building that they could be asked to tightrope walk across and it would still be more sane than what was being asked of them now. Still, Carnea backed away from the edge.

"Free my mind, free my mind, free my mind..."

Ghost followed her example, Trinity soon after. When they all backed as far as possible the three of them glanced at each other and clasped hands for emotional support, "On three?" Trinity suggested, the others nodded, "One...Two...Three!"

Entwined hands broke apart and they ran at different paces back toward the edge. Ahead of her Ghost pretty much forgot to jump and basically ran off the edge. Trinity jumped, her mind filled with terror and wonder, her heart began to beat with adrenalin. Carnea was right beside her in the air, but the younger girl shrieked and dropped out of the sky while Trinity continued to soar toward the other building.

_I'm going to make it!_ Trinity realized, _I'm going to make-_

She looked down.

She was only about halfway across the street. Trinity could just make out Ghost's body on the ground, he appeared to be okay, but Carnea was still falling and screaming. She was very high up...Trinity screamed, and gravity started to pull her toward the ground with her companions. Trinity flailed in the air, trying to find something to catch herself with, but there was nothing, at least until she reached the clothes lines. Carnea and Ghost had both missed them, but Trinity managed to catch a line with one hand and though the force of it made her feel like her arm would tear off. Trinity fought tears as she hauled her other arm up to grab hold.

She hung there feeling ridiculous for seconds that passed quickly into minutes while she tried in vain to slow down her heart beat. _It's all in my head, its all in my head. Anything is possible..._She pulled on the clothes line and after straining her arms to the point where she thought she might actually drop because her fingers gave in, she managed to flip up onto the line so that she was no longer dangling, but had her legs crossed over it.

She began a slow crawl across the rest of the street toward a window that led to a room that was empty. Trinity stretched her arms and begged her mind to remember that none of this was real and so she shouldn't be sore and feeling like she was about to rip at the seams. It didn't work as well as she hoped, but Trinity at least managed to will the strength to walk out of the room into the hall and climb down to the road where she met Ghost and Carnea.

"Trinity that was amazing!" Carnea praised, "You almost made it and then when you fell you caught the wire! I thought you were going to fall off for sure!"

"Or loose your arms." Ghost added.

"Yeah!" Carnea agreed, "But then you just climbed up and kept going! It was awesome! I wish I were as strong as you!"  
Trinity blushed, "It was nothing really, I just didn't want to hit the street."

Ghost wiped a bit of blood from his lips, imaginary blood, this wasn't real, "You only say it was nothing because you_ didn't_ hit the street. Trust me Trinity, that was amazing, stop being so modest."

"But-"

"Trinity is right." Niobe and Morpheus almost seemed to appear out of nowhere making the three trainees jump. Niobe had her hands on her hips unimpressed while Morpheus continued to hide his behind his back. "Climbing across a clothing line is only impressive when no one is hunting you." Niobe continued, "The Matrix is dangerous and our enemies won't wait for you to finish crossing the street before they shoot you down. That's why you need to learn this jump technique, you were a sitting duck up there."

Trinity looked at the ground, understanding the point perfectly. Carnea spoke up, "What enemies?"

"Yeah, you guys keep teaching us how to protect ourselves, and escape techniques...but who are we fighting?" Ghost added.

"Humans are not the only things in the Matrix." Morpheus explained, Trinity thought of the dream she'd had once, the one she couldn't quite remember, that had started her realization that her world was not real. "The Machines created programs that look and act human to monitor the Matrix and keep people like us from achieving out goals."

Trinity felt a knot twist in her stomach, "Who are they...?" She asked.

Niobe ad Morpheus were both wearing sunglasses that made their expression almost unreadable, but Trinity was sure the look they gave her was _the _look. "They are everyone." Morpheus said.

**Zion**

It was over 'dinner' that the Neb crew actually spoke of Zion. "The last human city." Tank said with pride.

"Where is it?" Carnea asked still playing with the bowl of goop that was their meal.

When the new trio had first awoken, probably a month ago given the length their hair had grown, they would never had thought they'd get used to the strange sustenance that humans lived on now. Carnea had refused to eat it for a long time, Ghost made it look less appetizing even though he was trying to encourage the girls to eat when he went on about it being 'good',

"For heaven's sake," Trinity told him once, "You're a boy, as long as it doesn't have an ant colony living in it you'll probably eat it."

But eventually they all adjusted, Trinity and Ghost more than Carnea who avoided eating until she couldn't take it anymore.

"Zion is hidden miles below the surface of the planet." Dozer said, "Close to the core of the Earth, humans can't survive on the surface where the temperature is so cold."

"Because we blocked the sun." Trinity said.

Wyvern nodded solemnly, "I guess we sort of doomed ourselves by doing that."

Morpheus frowned, "We did what we thought best at the time. I'm sure we had a plan to fix it once the Machines ran out of power."

"Too bad the Machines had a plan to use _us_ as power." Niobe added bitterly. Morpheus tried to take her hand, but Niobe pulled away and left the table, her goop only partially eaten. When Trinity was unplugged she had gotten the impression that the two of them were dating or married, but lately they'd been fighting quite a bit, seemingly over nothing, or something she didn't understand.

"What's up with her?" Ghost asked.

Morpheus didn't reply, instead looking at his bowl and tapping it contemplatively. "Niobe wants to take you guys to Zion. So that you can be introduced to our society and make your way in our world, whether you choose to work their or sign on to one of the ships and live like this." Glitch ended up explaining, she nodded to Morpheus, "He wants to take you to see the Oracle."

Trinity swallowed what was in her mouth, "See who?"

"The Oracle." Morpheus said at last, "She lives in the Matrix and she is a friend."

But that was the only explanation he gave before he too left, his bowl not quiet empty either.

**Agent Training**

They were in the construct again, with Morpheus and Glitch this time. He and Niobe still hadn't gotten over the Zion/Oracle fight they'd been having and so she refused to come, not wanting to make a scene in front of everyone.

"This is a simple exercise." Morpheus explained, "Your goal is to split up and head for that building over there." He pointed to a large building only visible at this distance because of it's height. "Glitch and I will be waiting for you there. Just try to get to that building on your own without drawing the attention of an Agent."

Trinity felt her heart stop, "An Agent?" Carne repeated.

"They are the most dangerous beings in the Matrix." Glitch said, "We don't know very much about them, but they are smart, they are fast, strong, and they are lethal. No one has ever fought an Agent and survived."

"Has no thought to put a bullet in their heads?" Ghost asked.

"Of course they have." Morpheus replied, "As Glitch said, they are fast. Fast enough to dodge bullets, strong enough to break a brick wall with a single punch, and I can't tell you the number of men and women who have died falling into a trap set by an Agent." He honestly was starting to sound afraid. "There have been a few cases where an Agent has been delayed by hitting them with a car, or a close range fire, but what make them so dangerous is that Agents can't be killed. They aren't real people with a single body that can be destroyed. They are more like a presence that fits into a human like a host, kill one and he will just reappear in a new body."

"How do stop them?" Carnea asked.

"We don't. We run from them, and we hide from them." Morpheus explained, "The point of this exercise is to teach you who they are so that you can be ready when you face them in the Matrix."

"What do they look like...?" Trinity asked weakly.

"You'll know when you see one." Morpheus said.

Without another word they both turned a corner and vanished. Trinity looked at Ghost and Carnea, and they made their plans to get to the building. Ghost would go first and when he was a block away Trinity would follow, with Carnea going last after Trinity had reached the end of the block too. They'd stay a block apart before they split up, keeping an eye on each others backs while they could and watching for the mysterious 'Agents'.

Three blocks after the starting point, Ghost turned to the left. Trinity glanced behind her and didn't see Carnea, she took the right a block after Ghost's turn. Her heart pounded, not knowing what to do. What caught an Agent's attention? How could she avoid them? What were they? Trinity looked up, eying the building Morpheus had told them to meet at. It didn't look any closer than when she had started.

Confused, Trinity kept walking, every once and a while taking a turn to get closer to it and walking block after block...Yet every time Trinity looked up she didn't seem to have made any progress. She started running, not watching were she was going, just keeping her eyes on the building. For every block she ran down it seemed to move a block away.

Trinity ran headlong into someone, "Sorry." She said not looking, or sounding like she meant it.

Just as she was about to start running again when she felt the cold touch of a gun's barrel on the back of her head. "Turn around slowly and put your hands over your head." A heart-startlingly familiar voice commanded. Trinity only partially obeyed, turning around _very_ slowly, but her hands stayed at her side.

There, pointing a gun at her, was Smith.

"No..." She moaned. She had known deep down, the whole time, that Smith was one of the enemies that Morpheus and the rest of the Nebuchadnezzar's crew were trying to teach the to fight against. She's hoped she was wrong, but the proof was right here before Trinity's eyes. The same dark green suit, brown hair, sunglasses, even the earpiece he always wore.

"I said put your hands on your head." Smith said in the same cold monotone he always used when he meant business. Trinity's body refused to move, Smith cocked his gun ready to give her one more warning before he fired. Falling off a building in the construct had done only a little bit of damage to Ghost and Carnea when they had returned to the real world because the mind makes it real. What would happen if Trinity took a bullet to the brain in the construct?

Smith's finger tightened to pull the trigger, Trinity's eyes squeezed shut waiting for him to fire, but before he did someone shouted "Freeze!"

When no bang sounded to indicate Smith had shot her, Trinity opened her eyes. Smith's finger was still on the trigger, tightened, milliseconds from killing her. All around people who moments ago had just been passing by not noticing the girl and the man pointing the gun at her stood frozen mid step, some looking over with eyes wide like they just realized what was happening. The only movement was Morpheus approaching her.

He looked between Trinity and Smith. "I'm sorry Trinity." He said, "I know you thought he was your friend, but he isn't. He's just a program created to keep you prisoner. Everything he ever told you was a lie, he doesn't care about you at all."

Trinity wiped tears off her face, not sure when she had started crying. Glitch, Ghost and Carnea approached, Ghost and Carnea were talking about how terrified they had been before the program had frozen and Glitch had come to get them. Morpheus and Glitch spoke a little more about the Agents but Trinity wasn't listening, she was looking at the Smith program. Had they create him specifically so that she would know he wasn't real?

_He wasn't real..._

"Trinity?" Morpheus touched her shoulder, "We're going back. Are you alright?"

She nodded that she understood but she was clearly not alright, "Can I have a moment alone?" She requested.

Ghost and Carnea exchanged a confused look, not knowing the connection between Trinity and the Agents, but Morpheus nodded. They disappeared as their minds were returned to the real world, but Glitch stayed a moment longer.

"Trinity...I knew that the Agents were using you to get to Morpheus." She said sadly, "I didn't tell him that's why you were with them, but that's why I wanted to get you out of there. I couldn't just sit around while they took advantage of you."

Trinity nodded but didn't respond.

"I'm sorry Trinity, but remember, they aren't real. There's no difference between _this _Agent" She said looking at Smith, "And the one you were friends with in the Matrix." She vanished like the others.

Trinity remained, and stepped back in front of the Smith program, still frozen where he stood, expressionless. All it took for Trinity to know Glitch was wrong was to take off the Sunglasses and look in Smith's eyes. He didn't recognize her, and so there _was_ a difference between this Smith and her Smith. Which meant that Glitch and Morpheus were both wrong; he _was_ real, just not in the same way that they were.

As Trinity concluded this she realized that Morpheus was also wrong about something else. Smith had never _lied_ to her. She had never asked about him, or what he did, Smith had merely let her believe what she wanted to believe about him...And the one time she had asked about the Matrix he had answered that it was dangerous; which was true.

Trinity's head dropped pressing into the fake Smith's chest while she stood there crying. If she went back into the Matrix would Smith still be her friend, or would he really be her enemy?

**The Matrix**

"I think you guys are ready." Morpheus said from one end of the table.

"For what?" Carnea asked.

At the other side of the table Niobe answered, "To make a choice. The _Icharus _is coming here to give our crew in return for Glitch and Wyvern, when they do I'm joining them and going back to Zion. You can choose to come with me-"

"-Or you can stay with us and we will take you to see the Oracle back in the Matrix." Morpheus finished.

Glitch spoke up, "Wyvern's in the Matrix right now arranging a time for you to meet her." She said.

"So..." Niobe said, "We want to know now... Who is coming with me to Zion, and who is going to see the Oracle?"

Carnea, Ghost and Trinity looked at each other. Trinity knew she was going back into the Matrix, she didn't care about any Oracle or what she had to say, but Trinity wanted to find Smith again, she needed to know...How Smith felt about her leaving.

Ghost read something in her eyes and likewise she read his: he was going to the meet the Oracle too, but Carnea looked at Niobe. She was going to Zion. They relayed their decisions and everyone nodded.

"When are you leaving?" Trinity asked looking at Glitch, she would miss the other girl.

"The _Icharus_ will be here in an hour." She answered, "But we aren't leaving until Wyvern wakes up."

Trinity looked back at Wyvern's body, he was plugged into the Matrix. It was no different that being connected to the construct. He was just lying there. He could be talking to the Oracle right now, or maybe he was on his way back already. Other than the codes on the screen, which Trinity was still getting used to, there was no way to tell what was happening...Except that Wyvern was fidgeting and occasionally moaning.

Like he was having a nightmare...

**Author's end note:** Hmmm, seven pages (actually more like six and a half). Looks like I finally gave you the shorter chapter I kept saying would happen.


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note:** Sorry about the wait I've had midterms and finals.

**Warning: **Smith. Just Smith.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Matrix or any of the characters associated with it such as Smith, Trinity, The Architect or The Oracle. I only have rights to my Ocs.

Hollow

Wyvern ran up a fire escape, the Agents behind him fired their guns, the only thing keeping him from getting killed was the fact that he kept moving. The gunfire ceased as they started climbing after him, Wyvern risked looking down and his heart skipped a beat when he realized that there were only two Agents following him when they were always seen in groups of three. Where was the third?

With the two behind him catching up, Wyvern had to forget about the missing Agent and keep running. He was so close to an exit, he just needed to get there before the Agents caught him...He reached for his cellphone to call the Operators on The Nebuchadnezzar. The moment one of the brothers picked up Wyvern spat out, "I need an exit open hurry! Agents following! Hurry!"

He didn't hear a response when gunfire opened on him again. Wyvern rushed across the top of the building and jumped across the street. To his dismay his cellphone slipped out of his hand as he flew through the air. Once Wyvern landed he went toward a door on the roof, ran through it shut and locked it behind him. It made no difference to the Agents, but maybe, just maybe it would slow them down a bit.

Wyvern continued to race down the stairs to the third level, he had no idea what this building had used to be but these days it was used by the humans to get in and out of the Matrix. Several rooms away Wyvern could already hear the ringing phone that signaled that the Neb was prepared to take his mind out of this dream world and back into the real one. The only problem now was that Wyvern had found the third Agent.

He came from the empty room with the phone, tackling Wyvern to the ground, choosing to use physical force rather than bullets like his partners to bring down the human rebel. If he could just get to that phone he'd make a narrow escape! Wyvern tried to shove the Agent off him but managed to do little more than let the Agent get to his feet while he stayed stuck on the floor. Wyvern kicked at him, but the Agent picked him up and slammed his head painfully against the wall.

"Where is she?" The Agent hissed suddenly.

"Wha...?" His head was slammed against the wall again, Wyvern cried out in pain, "What a-are you talking, 'bout- Who...?"

"I know you were involved with unplugging the adolescent female Christine Edwards, also known as Trinity." The Agent yanked him back by the hair to growl this in his ear. "Now what have you done with her? Where is she?"

The phone was still ringing when. Wyvern shoved his elbow in the Agent's stomach getting nothing accomplished but to make the Agent grunt. Trinity? That girl that Glitch had requested they rescue from the Matrix? He knew that the girl had been under watch by the Agents and probably convinced that they were her friends but...this Agent acted as if he cared what had become of her. No. It had to be a lie, Glitch had told him that the Agents were just using young hackers to get to Morpheus.

"I don't know who you're talking about Fed!" Wyvern hissed, which resulted in him being picked up and thrown across the room into the opposite wall.

The Agent crossed over to him, instead of the normal icy calmness this Agent wore an expression that so closely resembled rage that a new terror started to build in Wyvern's chest. "Do not lie to me." The Agent snarled clasping Wyvern's head and squeezing tightly, "This is your last chance. Tell me where Trinity is and I will let you walk out of here with your life. Pathetic as it may be."

The Agent was _actually_ bargaining for the girl. Wyvern couldn't comprehend what that meant, but he knew that an Agent's only objective was to crush the human rebellion. If he wanted Trinity back so bad then he could only assume that the Agents thought Trinity had the information they'd hired her to infiltrate the rebellion for. Wyvern's vision started to blur and turn red, blood pounded in his ears and he could taste it in his mouth. A flash of a young woman with brown hair and the sweetest smile he'd ever seen went through Wyvern's mind and a deep sorrow swallowed him.

_I'm sorry Glitch..._

"I'll never tell you!" Wyvern spat.

The Agent growled and smashed his head against the wall for the last time, at the same time he twisted snapping his neck. The human's skull cracked, but with the severing of his spinal cord he was dead almost instantly. Smith rose from the bloody mess the phone still ringing as he. Humans used the phones as gateways between this world and the other one. Curiously Smith picked up the phone and put it to his ear. He'd seen humans disappear the moment they answered, but nothing happened. He didn't hear anything either, just static, and even that faded to nothingness as the line went dead. Smith set the phone down just as Jones and Brown appeared at the doorway haven finally caught up.

They looked between the dead rebel and their partner, "Our orders were to take him alive if possible." Jones stated, it wasn't an accusation, just a reminder.

Smith took off his sunglasses and wiped dust off them, "It was not possible." He replied nonchalantly, "He almost escaped."

Brown checked the body, "You snapped his neck," he said analytically, "He's suffered several blows to the head, you could have knocked him out and brought."

"By the time he would have regained consciousness the humans may have decided to terminate him." Smith justified, "There is nothing we could have done."

Jones and Brown shared a skeptical stare, but chose not to argue, clearly they were sensing that Smith was not in the mood to explain his choice of action. They left the body of the rebel known as Wyvern where it was, sooner or later it would be discovered by someone, a human investigation would be conducted but it would remain an unsolved murder, no concern of theirs.

They returned to their car, Jones took the driver's seat and Brown sat in the passenger's side. Smith remained standing where he was, Jones rolled down his window with a questioning look to Smith. "One of us should stay." He suggested, "There may be more terrorists that will seek out this exit."

Jones seemed to see right through this suggestion to Smith's true reason for not getting in the car. "You are not going to find her, Smith." He said plainly, "It is unlikely that Trinity will be back in the Matrix anytime soon and statistically the odds of her betraying the rebellion for the Agency after we refused to share information with her are not in our favor."

"I understand." Smith replied, "I still request to keep on the look out."

Jones remained silent but gave a single nod to Smith before rolling up his window and driving away. Once the car and his partners were out of sight, Smith pulled his earpiece free and walked around the block taking note of every human he encountered, searching their bodies behind his sunglasses for any sign that they could be part of the human rebellion, like a hidden weapon, dark clothes or their own sunglasses. In particular he looked for a face, the one that belonged to the girl who had once said she loved him.

_Smith, I'm meeting someone I'll be home soon.- Trin_

That note was the last thing he had seen of her. Smith had tried not to be concerned when Trinity had disappeared. Tried and failed. His first reaction was to search for her, like he had the night she had run away from her foster home, calling all of her friends and checking out her favorite places to hang out when she wasn't on the computer. When that had failed to produce any sign of her, Smith had taken the car to do a full search for her. Still nothing. He was forced to accept the truth he had been denying:

Trinity had been unplugged.

The surge Smith felt when he realized that could only be called anger. If there was an emotion Smith was familiar enough with to recognize and understand it when he felt it, anger was that emotion, but this was different. Smith's anger was never directed to anyone or inflicted specifically at anything, he just withdrew from his fellow Agents and refused to speak. Most often the action he took with his anger was to leave Jones and Brown on their own when dealing with exiles or any other work the Agents normally did, in fact the only reason he'd shown up for this assignment was because a human rebel had been involved.

And clearly he had not handled the situation appropriately.

But mostly, Smith's anger was directed at himself or Trinity. While Smith continued to wander around town looking for more rebels he played in his head every encounter he'd ever had with the young woman, trying to figure out when exactly she had started to fall for him, why, and what he had done to make her feel that way for him. He shouldn't have been so kind to her. He shouldn't have humored her as often as he had. He shouldn't have pretended to be human for her.

Perhaps if he hadn't she wouldn't have been unplugged.

And perhaps if she hadn't been unplugged he wouldn't be feeling this way.

Smith wandered his way into a park where he found a bench to sit on and be miserable and conflicted. If this whole situation had proved anything to Smith it was two things: First that he cared enough about Trinity to notice she was gone and be upset about, the second more astonishing thing was that he cared enough to _actually want her back_.

Smith's hands balled into fists and his fingernails dug painfully into his palms but he didn't care.

It hurt more to think that his relationship with Trinity would never come to fruition more than it hurt to break the skin on his hands. It was like something had reached inside his body and ripped out something vital leaving him cold and hollow.

Is that pain what love was?

The more Smith thought about it the more it hurt and the angrier got. The hole inside him throbbed as it missed something he rarely even noticed was there in the first place. A woman sat down beside him and started to throw bread crumbs to birds that gathered and fluttered around them. Smith didn't take any particular notice of her until she suddenly spoke up.

"You know what they say about having a heart?" She asked. Smith turned to her, she was a program he could tell that much, but didn't recognize her from any previous encounters and most programs feared Agents too much to speak causally with them. She was black skinned and slightly obese but had a kind look about her that made Smith interested in what she had to say.

"What?" Smith demanded not kindly, though he wasn't sure himself if he meant he wanted to know the saying or if he was asking her to repeat herself.

The woman pulled a packet of cigarettes out of her pocket and Smith refrained from rolling his eyes. Smoking was a disgusting human habit that he didn't appreciate even when it was used to blend it. She smiled at him. "They say a heart's a heavy burden." She answered as she lit her cigarette and took her first smoke of it.

Smith didn't understand what she was saying or why she was saying it. Like she was somehow already aware of what was occupying his thoughts, Smith opened his mouth to question her but once she exhaled a cloud of nicotine she silenced him by speaking further.

"Of course what they forget to say is that having a soul is perhaps even heavier than a heart." She looked away from him and tossed more bread crumbs to the birds.

Smith raised an eyebrow, confident that the Matrix was not occupied by random good programs who wandered about giving free advice to people he was immediately suspicious of this one's intentions. "What do you want?" He asked.

The woman laughed, the desire to shoot her sparked slightly but Smith ignored it when she answered, "I thought the question was about what _you _wanted." Smith growled but she continued, "What I want Smith, is for the best of endings to be the one we get." She said.

Puzzled by this answer and the fact that this program actually knew his name Smith was compelled to ask "Who are you, how do you know me?"

The woman laughed again, "Oh, now's not the time to be asking who I am, there will be plenty time for you to figure that out later." She said, "Now is the time to be tasking who you are."

"I beg your pardon?"

She looked at him again, "You know what I mean Smith. You've known for a while. You're not like the other Agents, are you?"

It was true this thought had crossed Smith's mind a few times then and again, but he was still suspicious of the program before him, "How so?"

"Now you're asking the right questions." She answered, "How are you different Smith?"

He didn't have an answer. Every time that thought had occurred to him, Smith had failed to come up with a satisfying answer as to why he was not like the other Agents so he had always ended up pushing the thought aside without coming to a conclusion.

However this time, Trinity came to mind when Smith wondered about why he was different.

"You need to think about this carefully Smith. No one else can help you with it and I've done more than I should have already," She said standing up and putting her cigarette out, "All I can say now is that you make a better friend then you do an enemy Smith." She finished and walked away leaving Smith to wonder what had just happened.

He turned his attention to the birds trying to figure out what the stranger meant, who she was and how she could possibly have any idea what he was going through that would make her say the things she had. Failing to do anything accept make himself feel even more confused and conflicted Smith slipped his earpiece back in to see if there was anything to take his mind of his situation. There was none. And Smith was left once again knowing only two things:  
Trinity was gone and he wanted her back.

**Author's end note: **Next chapter is the last official chapter but there will be a short epilogue as well so...yay. In case I don't post again before the holiday (Which its unlikely I will so don't get excited) Merry Christmas!


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's note: **Once again, sorry about the wait, I've had almost no time to write the last couple of months and had a bunch of real life crap happening at the same time. Hope this is worth it for all of you!

**Warning: **Final chapter, Smith/Trinity feels, Oracle, read and find out.Ending is up for interpretation.

**Disclaimer: **It's been an amazing journey, but its almost over and I still don't own these characters

Hollow

The death of Wyvern put everyone's plans on hold for two weeks. Once the mourning was over, those that were leaving the Nebuchadnezzar departed and those that remained went on with life as best as they could with the missing people. At last Morpheus announced it was probably safe for them to enter the Matrix and speak with the Oracle.

It was strange returning to the Matrix, Trinity arrived inside wearing leather pants, black boots that reached almost to her knees, and a tight tanktop covered with a thin leather jacket, the outfit was completed with a pair of sunglasses. She caught her reflection in a window and almost didn't recognize herself, not just because of the clothes, but something about the way she was holding herself felt fundamentally different from when she had left Smith's apartment that night. She forced herself away from her reflection and decided that there was one thing about it that had been bugging her and yanked her signature ponytail free and let her hair fall free over her shoulders.

That plain shy girl wasn't her anymore.

The trip through the Matrix was incredible, but uneventful. Trinity and Ghost looked out through the windows of the car that had been programed for their use, pointing out shops and hang outs they had used to go to every day, they even passed Trinity's old school and she briefly wondered how much time had passed since she had left. Did anyone at school miss her?

Morpheus took them down town, to an older, grimmer part of the city. They pulled up to a building and he lead them to an elevator, down a hall and to a door. "The Oracle will see you one at a time." Morpheus said, "And you are to tell no one what she says to you."

Trinity and Ghost nodded, the door opened and a thin dark skinned woman welcomed them in. Was she the Oracle? Morpheus shook his head as if reading her thoughts. "The Oracle is in the kitchen," the other woman told them, picking up a young child and shooing others away from the new arrivals, "We've been expecting you, Trinity, the Oracle said for you to go first."

"Wha...? I- O-okay." She stuttered, and glanced nervously at Ghost and Morpheus who gave encouraging nods, the woman took her by the shoulder with a kind grip and led her through the apartment to the kitchen. Inside there was an older woman with her back turned, baking what smelled like chocolate chip cookies. Trinity's mouth started to water at the smell, even though she knew it wasn't real, Trinity couldn't help but want one when they were finished, it would be so much better than that goop she'd been eating.

"Um excuse me," she called rather softly hoping not to startled the older woman, "Hello I'm-"  
"-Trinity, yes, I know." The woman turned away from the oven and faced her, "And I'm the Oracle, I've been waiting a long time to see you Christine Edwards."

Trinity's jaw dropped slightly hearing her birth name used, it had been such a long time since she'd been called that it was a shock to hear it. She was about to ask how the woman could know her name, when she spoke up again.

"I know you're real name because I know everything," She explained, "Even that you're not here because you want to know what great things destiny has in store for you, you could care less really, you just want to get this over with and go out to find Smith." The woman chuckled, "Yes, I know about him too. Don't worry yourself, you'll see him soon enough."

"I will?! Is he going to be mad I left, or will he be happy to see me or-" The Oracle raised her finger to silence Trinity.

"Yes, yes, all that, and none of that." She put her hand in her pocket and produced a pack of cigarettes. Trinity opened her mouth to ask what that meant but the Oracle started to answer before she even got the question, "I'm going to let you in on a little secret Trinity, there is no one future, it's constantly being changed by the choices and actions of everyone in the world. Its a bit tiresome to keep up with to be honest, but if I don't do this job, who will?"

She lit a cigarette and puffed a few times and continued, "Right now you have two choices Trinity." She explained, "You can turn around and walk out that door and find Smith like you're thinking, or you can stay here and listen to the important thing I need to tell you about the destiny you and he share."

"Our what?" Trinity asked taking a few steps closer.

The Oracle inhaled and exhaled more smoke, "I take it you're gonna stay now right? Because you can still leave if you want. The only difference it will make is if you stay you'll know what you're getting into."

"Just tell me! What destiny do Smith and I share?" Trinity demanded.

The Oracle sighed, "So eager, but I suppose it's not very often people as remarkable as you walk in through that door." She took another smoke, "Actually the destiny is yours alone, but if you chose you can share it with Smith, or you can share it with someone else. You're special Trinity, everyone is in their own right I suppose, but in particular you get to choose if the world will be saved."

"What?"

"Morpheus told you about the One hasn't he? Not in detail though, right?"

Trinity nodded, "Yes he said that there's someone gonna be born in the Matrix who will save humanity from the Machines." She tapped her foot impatiently.

The Oracle shook her head, "That's not my prophecy." She said, "What _I_ said, was that there would be a man born in the Matrix who would rise to lead his people to freedom. And he isn't going to be born, he's already here in the Matrix right now. This is were you come in Trinity...You are destined to fall in love Trinity, and when you do the man that you love will be the One."

Trinity stared at the Oracle in stunned silence for a long time. "Smith...?" She asked, the Oracle didn't say anything, "You're kidding right? Smith the savior of humanity? He was created to keep us in a cage."  
"Did I ever say that you would be in love with Smith?" The Oracle asked, "You're young Trinity, love is a new thing for you, what you think you feel for Smith may not be what love really is. Then again, it could be. The choice is yours Trinity. Do you love Smith, or do you think you should wait and give your heart to someone you think is more suited to save the people you think need to be saved?"

Trinity's eyes dropped to the floor.

"Your feelings for him have already set things in motion. No matter what happens next Trinity, Smith is important now because you made him important." The Oracle paused again taking a moment to choose her words carefully, "Think about it this way Trinity, you've already realized that Smith isn't just a faceless computer program with a single purpose. Not anymore at least. You've changed him, it's what happens when programs are exposed to humans for a prolonged period of time, no matter how well they're designed or how strict their programming, humanity rubs off on them, they learn to understand the values of things like emotions. The same thing happened when man created machines, that's the nature of intelligence, you can call it artificial or not, but a living being is a living being."

"I don't understand..."

"And neither does Smith, that's what makes him dangerous at this point. Agents have the most strict coding of all of the programs in the Matrix Trinity, they have only one purpose, keep the Matrix from falling apart, this of course has different meaning but it all boils down to that single intent. The problem with Agent having emotions, as it has been discovered, is that if an Agent ever thinks anything or any_one_ is more important than the Matrix the results are devastating to the Machines."

"So you're saying Smith would make a good savior?" Trinity asked.

"Is that what I said?"

"No..."

"Good you're keeping up at least, and I know you're starting to get what I mean, but let me finish. Theoretically yes, if an Agent turned against the system it would be humanity's greatest chance at being free from the Machines forever. However, at the same time, that Agent is still dangerous to humans because at his core he is still programmed to protect the Matrix."

"He could turn on us any moment?"

"That's the risk you have to take with a rogue Agent. If Smith is going to be the One, you're going to have to work very hard to make sure that he remains so otherwise he could mean the end of not just humanity, but the machines, and everything."

Trinity felt her knees get weak, the Oracle offered her a chair and returned to her baking while that sunk in for Trinity. The Oracle pulled out a plate of freshly backed chocolate chip cookies and set them on the counter to cool. She then returned to the table and sat with Trinity.

"You said I can choose..." Trinity said, the Oracle nodded "There's someone else out there that is the One?"

"Potentially, anyone can be _the_ One." The Oracle told her, "What I've been saying Trinity is that your heart is the key. You're special."

"And if I don't choose Smith...?"

"He will still be a rogue Agent, he will still be dangerous and he will still be vital to the liberation of humanity from the machines, but he will never be the One as Morpheus believes the One to be."

"What _is_ the One?" Trinity asked.

"The One is a man born within the Matrix who will set his people free." The Oracle explained plainly, "But I never said 'his people' meant humanity."

"What? Who else could you mean?"

"Our time is up Trinity. Just give what I've told you some thought and you'll be fine. Here, take a cookie and tell Ghost to come in."

Trinity did as she was instructed, she sat in the front of the apartment nibbling on her cookie unenthusiastically. Morpheus could definitely tell something important had be said to her, but refused to ask because of his own rule to not repeat what Oracle had told them. It was a bit of a shame really, Trinity could really use some advice at the moment, but no one would understand unless she told them everything, not just what the Oracle told her, but about Smith as well,

Though she still wanted to see Smith desperately, she was having second thoughts. What if she chose him and he destroyed the world? What if she didn't choose him, would she really meet someone else?

Suddenly Trinity didn't want the responsibility of being in love.

Ghost returned, he looked like he had a lot on his mind, but his shoulders were pulled back and determined, with a cookie in his hand. The Oracle had told him something important, but personal, he wasn't carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Morpheus stood and said he had a few things he wanted to ask the Oracle, but then they would be returning to the Nebuchadnezzar.

Was that it?

Even though she had gotten some pretty big news about her 'destiny', Trinity couldn't help but feel like this trip into the Matrix hadn't been worth it. She rose from the chair she had been occupying and walked over to the window. The only reason she had agreed to come was because she thought that she would be able to see Smith again, but it was starting to look like she wouldn't. What had the Oracle meant when she said she would see him soon? The next time she went into the Matrix? Trinity gazed out at the artificial world outside the window.

Smith was in this world somewhere, and she wondered what he was doing at the moment?

In truth, Smith was on a rooftop only a few blocks away, it was a small building, only one story a good vantage point to see the street below without being seen himself. A traffic camera had caught an unregistered car going through an intersection. Not normally the Agency's jurisdiction, but the driver had been identified as the hacker Morpheus. There had been other figures in the car, other terrorists most likely. He wondered briefly if Trinity had been in the car, but Smith shoved the thought aside. He'd grown accustom to her presence, and now he was beginning to grow accustom to her not being there.

He couldn't let a spark of unrealized hope continue to interfere with his work.

A report had come in a few minutes ago from a woman on a pay phone who claimed to see three strangely dressed people in this area, she thought she had seen weapons under their coats. Smith, Jones and Brown made a perimeter, keeping watch over the streets. Another team of Agents was in the next sector over, guarding a known exit that the rebels might use to escape if they got past Smith and his team.

So far Smith had seen no activity to suggest an oncoming terrorist attack. What were they doing here, a social visit to unplug more humans? The thought made Smith angry, it was part of his job to prevent such things from happening, and he had failed at it with Trinity, so now it felt personal. Those rebels would not unplug anyone else on his watch.

The Source relayed information in his ear while Jones and Brown updated him. No sign of the Zion rebels yet. Was this some sort of false alarm? No, Brown just spotted one of the rebels exiting a building, a young man. The boy spotted him, and alerted the others, they all took off in different directions. Brown reported three, Morpheus and two adolescents, the male from before and a female he had not gotten a good look at.

_"There may be others." _He added, _"What are our orders?"_

As the senior Agent, Smith choice the course of action when the Source did not reply. "Brown go after Morpheus, he is our priority. Jones, find cover and keep watch for any others, do not engage until they cannot escape. I will do the same." With that Smith ducked behind some equipment on the rooftop, he got out his gun and he watched the street for a feeling terrorist.

Trinity was conflicted when Ghost said there were Agents on the street. Was it Smith? She didn't want to wait and see, because if it wasn't by the time she knew it would be too late. So she ran, heading East while Morpheus took the North road and Ghost went South. Trinity didn't hear any gunfire chasing after her, but that didn't mean that she wasn't being followed. Maybe the Agents were just waiting for them to reach less crowded streets to avoid unnecessary citizen casualties? Did Agents think about things like that?

Smith saw movement below him, a running figure dressed in black. His target. It was the female rebel, but because she was running he couldn't get a good shot, or a good look at her. Instead, he reached for his earpiece and announced to Jones and Brown that he had found the female and was now in pursuit. He remained on the rooftops, keeping her in sight but not drawing attention to himself. He needed to wait for her to stop moving before he could get a clear shot.

Trinity continued to run, once upon a time she would have been exhausted and ready to collapse by now, but her training in the Construct had paid off. Unfortunately she didn't know this area of the city, Trinity was lost and had no idea where to find an exit. The young woman slowed to a stop and pulled out the cell phone tucked in her jacket pocket. "Operator." Either Dozer or Tank said, she couldn't tell they sounded freakishly alike on the phone.

"I need an exit and instructions to get there." She said quickly, twirling around to look for Agents that might be following her, none in sight. "I have no idea where I am, and there are Agents on our tails."

Smith was just above her when she stopped, there were still several people blocking his shot when the rebel turned around and he finally got a good look at her. "No." He whispered when he recognized the human below, an odd mix of anger, and despair.

"I know, there's one not even a block away from you, don't panic though." The man on the other end said, "There's an exit four blocks away, a payphone in an old parking garage. You'll make it, people have made closer get-aways, but hurry he's catching up."

Although he had known she was unplugged, Smith also knew not all of the humans returned as rebels. The workings of the world outside the Matrix were a mystery to Smith, and he wasn't sure of what became of those who didn't return, but he'd begun thinking that perhaps Trinity had chosen to stay among them rather than come back to this lie. The reality stood before him, dressed in tight black leather, wearing sunglasses and letting her hair flow defiantly over her shoulders instead of tucked back neatly behind her ears.

Christine Edwards was a Zion rebel now, and that meant they were enemies.

"Right, thank you!" Trinity said as she flipped the cell phone closed.

The crowd between them thinned, but even when Smith had a clear killing shot he found himself hesitating to fire. He had killed many Zionists in his past, with and without orders, this would be no different. _Just shoot_, he ordered himself.

Just as Trinity was about to begin running again a familiar voice stopped her in her tracks "Christine?" She turned around to see her old friend Cynthia approaching with an unsure gait, but as the other girl got a good look recognition and joy quickened her pace so she stood in front of her "Oh my God Christine, I didn't recognize you!" Tears welled up in Trinity's eyes.

At that moment Smith's grip on the trigger finally gave in to the intended result, regrettably not soon enough, a second human stepped between him and Trinity, taking the shot meant for the rebel, quite unintentionally.

Cynthia's mouth was open in continued greeting when the shot rang out. A confused look overcame her face and her hand went to her chest. Her finger's came back soaked with blood, and her face paled, but she was too weak to scream.

So Trinity did for her.

She caught Cynthia as she fell forward and slung her arm over her shoulder to try to carry her. As she did, Trinity's eyes darted around looking for the shooter, at first she saw no one, but then noticed the shape on the roof of a nearby street mart. The Agent the Operator had warned her about. She stared running again, her speed reduced because of the extra weight of her friend, but Trinity wasn't going to leave her.

"Keep breathing Cynthia!" She instructed, "You're going to be fine! You're gonna be fine!" She lied.

The Agent was no longer on the roof when she looked over her shoulder. Where did that bastard go? She didn't have time to worry, she needed to find that parking garage and get Cynthia help...How she was going to do that she had no idea. The Matrix wasn't real, Trinity told herself, Cynthia was in a pod in a field of human crops. There was no bullet wound draining her life, so how could she be dying?

_If she can hold out for a little bit maybe we can get her unplugged..._

She reached the parking garage, where was the phone? She could hear it ringing "This way," She said more to herself than to her friend, "Hold on just a little longer Cynth, we're almost there." Cynthia made a gurgled response that might have been a question, but she was fading fast.

Trinity's face was wet with tears when she reached the ringing payphone, "Almost there..." she said one more time. She lowered Cynthia to the floor, her friend's breathing was slow and inaudible, but still there. She jumped back to her feet and ran to the phone, but just as she reached to pick it up, she felt the cold barrel of a gun against the back of her skull.

"Don't answer it. Turn around and put your hands over your head." The familiarity of the situation was almost to much for Trinity to bear, she obeyed the order to turn around, but made no move to put her hands over her head. She expected Smith to repeat the order, but he didn't.

As Trinity turned around she remembered the Agent Training program she had endured, the differences were slim. Back then she was in no hurry to escape, and no Cynthia she was desperate to save. The program had taken place out in the simulated street, here they were undercover, enough sunlight poured in that she could see Smith clearly, and because she could see him, she noted perhaps the most important difference.

Smith had taken his earpiece out. And it hung uselessly over his shoulder.

He nodded to the side, silently demanding for her to step away from the still ringing phone. This she too obeyed, moving to stand between him and Cynthia. "You're friend is dead." He said in an uncaring monotone, gun still raised to her. He was stating a fact, not expressing sympathy. Trinity dared a glance back at Cynthia's still form and fresh tears fell down her face. She started to go over to her, but the Agent gave an order, "Don't move."

Trinity turned back to him, ready with an angry response, but the words died in her throat when she saw him, "Smith..." She blinked away tears that were blurring her vision. No, it wasn't a trick of her eyes, Smith's arm was trembling, not by much, but enough to give his hesitance away.

Still, he cocked the weapon, ready to fire if she didn't do as he said. He opened his mouth, she thought to tell her she was under arrest, but instead a single question came out. "Why?"

Why what? She wanted to ask. Why had she left? Why had she joined the Zion rebels? Why had she come back? Trinity didn't have an answer for him, and instead she just stood there crying.

That didn't seem to evoke any pity from the Agent, simulated or not. He kept his gun pointed at her as he spoke again, with the usual monotone, yet his words surprised her. "Come with me Trinity. Give us your location, and we will dispatch a drone to retrieve you. If you cooperate we will reinsert you into the Matrix and erase your memory. None of this needs to have happened."

From the slightest wavers in Smith's voice, Trinity could tell this was not a sanctioned offer he normally gave, or his superiors would approve of him making. The fact that his earpiece was out contributed to this theory. This in mind, she also doubted that he was making it for the information that Trinity could give the Agency.

This was a personal plea.

For a second Trinity's heart skipped a beat and she was ready to abandon the Nebuchadnezzar, but something about the offer bugged her. 'Us', 'we', not 'me' and 'I'. Smith was still speaking as an Agent, not as a person. This offer wasn't as personal as she thought.

It was Trinity's turn to ask. "Why?" Smith's brow furrowed, not understanding her reason to question him, "Why do you want me to come back with you?" She clarified.

Smith's hesitation in replying was all the answer she really needed, but she let him continue, "We had a deal." He said, "You said you love me and that I had a year to decide how I felt about you. That year is not up, and we have lost time. Return with me now and when the time comes-"

She cut him off, "I met the Oracle." he seemed surprised at the interruption, "We don't have a year anymore. It's now or never, Smith, do you love me?" It was hard to imagine that the answer could be yes when he still had a loaded gun pointed at her.

But she saw his lips twitch, caught between responses. He wasn't going to say yes...but the answer wasn't no either. He didn't understand...He was so close though...So close to understanding emotions and why they were important. Trinity swallowed back more tears, it wasn't fair, if they'd had more time...

"I shouldn't be telling you this Smith..." she said softly, "But when I saw the Oracle she told me about my future, my destiny. She said that I'm supposed to fall in love with the One." Smith's gaze snapped up when she mentioned this, clearly the Machines were aware of the prophecy. "She told me I get to choose who the One is. And I think, she's wrong, it isn't my choice, it's yours Smith...Will you come with me?"

He started to lower his gun, slowly, not certain. What was he thinking? He was struggling with desires. He missed Trinity, but he couldn't abandon his programming. He did understand what she wanted from him. This thing she called love, her desire to leave the Matrix, nor this business about the One. Did she really expect him to betray his own purpose?

"I am an Agent of the System." Smith spoke up at last, "I cannot leave the Matrix."

But would he if he could?

That was the answer Trinity really wanted, it was one she wasn't going to get. Smith lowered his arm completely, his expression was twisting as he fought his programming. "Go. Hurry." He told her nodding to the still ringing phone, "Jones and Brown may cease their pursuit of your comrades and return to assist in bringing you in. Go, Trinity, now."

She hesitated a second too long for him and he lifted his weapon again, ordering her to return to her world under threat of death. Trinity stepped inside the glass case of the payphone, while Smith debated the protocols of a farewell. Should he tell her good bye? Was a kiss in order? Or did the situation call for him to beg her to stay with him? Conflicted in so many different directions, Smith ended up standing frozen where he stood.

Trinity picked up the phone, but as she did she turned around and saw Smith. He looked broken somehow and she for him, pressing her fingers against the glass, but before she could see his response she was opening her eyes in the real world, with Tank pulling the device from her head while Ghost clutched her hand in concern. Morpheus was still at the table but Dozer was instructing him to an exit, he didn't sound panicked so he must be okay for the most part.

"We thought you weren't going to make it!" Ghost said, letting go of her hand, almost shyly "I don't know how you managed to get away from that Agent but- hey, why are you crying?" Ghost asked, but Trinity didn't answer, she stood from the chair pushing him away, and though it took her a moment to keep her balance, she left the room. She hid out in her assigned quarters, curled in a ball. She wasn't crying, at least not sobbing like girls in bad movies. She just lied down, with her back to the door and face to the wall, barely moving, sniffing and occasional wiping salty tears from her cheeks.

Inside the Matrix, Smith wasn't doing much better himself. He stood staring at the spot Trinity had vanished from for far longer than he should have. He pulled himself away and walked out of the parking garage, and kept walking, in no particular direction. Smith wasn't thinking either, a familiar empty ache filled him, and he walked until he couldn't even do that anymore.

With his earpiece out it was harder for Jones and Brown to track their partner, but when they found him, Smith was leaning against a wall in an empty alley way. He did not respond when they called his name. They approached and stood before him, but Smith didn't acknowledge them. He was completely hollow, even when they fitted his earpiece back into place, he made no move to stand. The Source gave orders for Smith to return, Jones and Brown slung one of Smith's arms around each of their shoulders and carried him back to their car.

Smith was still unresponsive when the reached the Source. The Architect awaited them, a group of programs retrieved Smith from them. The Architect summoned Jones and Brown forward, they did so without question.

"Your partner is in need of a rewrite, this business with the hacker known as Trinity, in fact the whole infiltration project, is best left forgotten." He told them, "As such I must ask the both of you to also report for rewrites, the last thing anyone likes is to be reminded of their failure."

They both nodded, but Brown had to inquire, "What is wrong with Smith?"

Jones glanced over at his partner as if he intended to remind him that it was not his place to ask such questions, but the Architect raised a hand to silence him and answered. "It is a fail-safe in the code of every Agent. Smith's errant behavior of late has been brought to my attention, and when I couldn't get hold of him I activated the code to shut him down." The Architect nodded to the group of programs, similar in appearance to Agents, dressed in lab coats and thick glasses, they still had Smith, though by now they had him seated in a chair as if he were a patient at a hospital awaiting an appointment with the doctor.

"Think of it as if he is in a coma, he will remain as such until I have time to access his code and rewrite the data. The two of you will be placed in a similar stasis when you are rewritten, but you will have a bit more warning."

"Why not just delete Smith?" Jones asked, he knew such a fate usually met an Agent who defied the Source.

"The problem with Smith is the result of an outside force which is no longer a factor. As such I doubt the problem will persist once he has been rewritten." The Architect explained, "The two of you may remain on duty while you wait for your rewrite, or you can stay here, it makes no difference."

Jones and Brown glanced to each other, silently agreeing that they would rather stay out in the city than wait around here. With respectful nods they declined the offer to remain at the Source, and returned to their jobs. The Architect looked over at Smith's still form as the Doctors finally all parted. He hadn't been telling the Agent's partners the full truth during the explanation of his current state. The fail safe did exist, but it was inaccessible if the Agent was not connected to the Source.

Smith had activated the shut down himself, possibly unconsciously, but nonetheless the result was self-induced.

There was one more thing that the Architect had not mentioned to Jones and Brown. "Smith cannot be deleted because he still has a part to play..." He said to no one.

**Author's end note: **Took me long enough, but yeah, it's finally finished. The epilogue is going to be shorter so hopefully it won't take me half a year to finish it. Thank you all for reading, those of you who have been reading for a while and those who only started recently. It means a lot to me! Thank you!


End file.
